One week from today...

I cannot believe that this time next week I will be getting ready to get on a plane to Russia!!! It seems like forever ago that the Lord caught me completely off guard by opening the doors for me to go back to Ekaterinburg. It has been a totally different experience getting ready for this trip. When I went in 2007, it was my first international mission trip and I was scared to death!!! I remember sitting at Panera with Hillary and just sobbing because I had no idea what I was doing or why God was sending me there! I still don’t have the answers to those questions, but I’m much more prepared for the culture shock and can’t wait to go!

I’m so excited for the work they want us to do in Ekaterinburg this year. The church we are partnered with is working very hard to establish small groups and even some church plants throughout the city. Ekat is a city of over 2 million people and there are more Baptist churches in Fayetteville alone than in all of Ekat! Our team will be giving concerts as a way to reach out to people in the desired church plant areas. We have worked SO HARD to learn 5 songs in Russian as well as 4 choir chime/hand bell pieces and 3 other songs we will sing in English but have the Russian translations projected on a screen. To say it was a challenge to learn our contemporary worship music in Russian is quite the understatement!!! But we are blessed to have a lady in our church that is from Moscow and she has pulled us through it! She even told us we sounded like good Russians! I still say we sound like Southern Russians, but I think they’ll get most of it! Ha!

I have some prayer requests for our trip:
• Pray that our last week of rehearsal goes well and we leave feeling comfortable and confident in our concert.
• Pray for the planning of our concert sites. Russians don’t get in a big hurry to get things planned and at this point we still have no idea where/when or how much of the concerts will get to happen!
• Pray for smooth travel! We are taking 49 choir chimes with us that will be distributed in our checked luggage. We have taken them before, but it’s always a risk getting them through security. And if any of our luggage gets lost, we won’t be able to perform any of the bell pieces!
• Pray for health! One of the guys going on our trip found out a few weeks ago that he has a major hernia and will have to have surgery 3 days after we return home. If it strangulates while we are in Russia, it will require emergency surgery. NOT something you want to have happen in a foreign country!!!

I’m sure there is more, but I think that covers the big things! I remember that on my first trip to Russia, I was amazed by how different everything was. Lately, God has been challenging me to stop focusingon the differences. I’ll be singing the song “Blessings” during our concert and there is part of it that brings me to tears every time! It says “What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?” Disappointments and trials in life are not exclusive to the country we live in or the language we speak! BUT neither is the love of God!!! Please Lord, let me bear witness of that!

Cling

This time of the year is just crazy busy for me at work!!! It's the same way every year, so it's not like I'm caught off guard by it. But, I just HATE starting off a new year feeling like I'm already behind! Last week, I came across some new music to learn for church and one of the songs is "Cling" by Shannon Wexelberg. I had heard it at the Worship Leader's Conference this summer and loved it but had completely forgotten about it!!! I think God knew that I needed to hear it again! There have been days lately that I just listen to it on repeat! Ha! I couldn't find a video to post, so I'll just leave the lyrics. It is on her "I Have a Song" album and I highly recommend getting the whole thing!

Cling
Shannon J. Wexelberg
“Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You:
Your right hand upholds me…” Psalm 63: 78

When the night is long
When I yearn for deep peace to come
I strain to hear Your song
But suddenly I know I’m not alone
For You settle over me
Dispelling all my fears
My Father, I know You are here

May Yours be the only smile I need to see
May You be the healing washing over me
With Your arms around me
Your peace surrounds me
And may it only be You
I cling to

I set out on this road
So many voices call to my soul
They try to fill my cup
But I have found, sweet Lord, that You’re my enough
So I’m staying close to You
You hold me to Your side
My Father, the joy of my life

Break any hold
This world has on me
I’m letting go
And I throw myself at Your feet
There’s just one thing
One single thing I need
To know the very One who formed me

You can't spell Sugar without AR!!!

Saturday I made my very first trip to a Razorback game in Little Rock!!! I didn't think I was going to get to go, but a friend found me some tickets. The only catch was that they were in the LSU section. I knew that I could be risking my life, but it was a risk I had to take to get the chance to see the Hogs beat the Tigers for a shot at the Sugar Bowl!!! It could not have been a better day! The weather was absolutely perfect, the crowd was great, and the game was a blast!!! The LSU fans that were around us were older and were actually pretty friendly so we didn't have any problems. It was a MUCH different experience than what I had in Omaha with LSU fans and I was really greatful for that. It also helped that the Hogs took care of business on the field, so the fans didn't have too much to say! Ha! I'm not a very good photographer at games because I get really nervous and into the game and forget to take pictures. But here are a few:Beautiful blue skies for the pre-game festivitiesThe Hogs defense fired up and making a stand!

Les Miles trying to explain how the Hogs scored w/ 6 seconds left in the half! HA HA!!!

The O-line getting ready to push the Tigers down the field!

One happy Hog fan!!!

One of the Hog weight room guys told me tonight that I have to go to all the games from now on since they won on Saturday. Sounds good to me! Hopefully my next stop will be New Orleans!!!

A Mouthful of Happy

I used my Bliss Cupcake Cafe gift certificate today! They were having a Thanksgiving special so I decided to pre-order some cupcakes for next week. My nephews will love having cupcakes for a Thanksgiving dessert! After I got my order placed, I realized that I couldn't walk out of there empty handed!

They aren't kidding...it really is a mouthful of happy!

Red Velvet Razorback!

After a rough night last night, this definitely hit the spot! At 2:30 am, I discovered reason number 5,324,572 that being single can be really annoying!!! The battery in the smoke detector in my bedroom decided to go out. I about jumped out of my skin when it started BLARING! I ran downstairs to get the step-ladder because I can't reach the smoke detector. I get back upstairs and then realize that I can't get the cover off of the battery wall without a screwdriver. At least by now it has stopped blaring and is just beeping loudly every minute. I found a screwdriver but it took me forever to get the battery out because even with the step ladder I could barely reach the stupid thing and it was a weird angle and 3 am at this point! I knew that I didn't have another battery to replace it with, but I thought that it would stop beeping if I just removed the battery. Wrong!!! After all of that it was still beeping! I definitely wasn't going to go to Wal-Mart by myself in the middle of the night, so I ended up sleeping on the couch downstairs to try to get to where I couldn't hear the beeping. Oh my, I had to just laugh at myself! And I learned a very important lesson...always have a spare 9 volt battery!

A lot To Catch Up On

Ok, so maybe not "a lot" but I have had a few things going on since July! Ha! Here goes:

• The Razorbacks - No surprise here, but if I haven't been at work or church, I've either been feeding the Razorbacks or watching them play. I could not be more proud of these guys and how hard they are working! I had the chance to go back to Dallas for the TX A&M game and met up with my mom and brother. We had a great time and have decided to make that a family tradition!

• Halloween - I've been helping out with the College Ministry at my church this semester. It has been a great and challenging experience. We had a Fall Festival and costume party that was so much fun! I dressed up as Flo the Progressive Insurance girl. It was funny how many people told me that I really looked like her! I even won a Bliss Cupcakes gift certificate in the costume contest! Ha! This picture is of me and some of the sweet girls in the group.

• Friends and Dancing - Last weekend, I had a great time catching up with some old friends and meeting some new ones. I love it when Hillary gets to visit NWA because we always have a blast and I miss her so much!!! This visit was especially fun because I also got to see Kelly, Laurie, and a super fun group of girls! We went to FBC Bentonville's Mugs & Muffins, lunch at Noodles, and watched Kelly do a great job dancing for Dancing with the NWA Stars! I wish every weekend could be that much fun!!!

Well, that about does it. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of helping my dad do some catering and going to the Hogs' game. I'm already trying to prepare myself for Senior Night at the game! Ha! I feel like I did when it was my brothers playing in their Senior games! I know that sounds silly, but after 3 seasons of serving these guys and having some of them work for us, they really do feel like family! I'll have to do a post on that another day....hopefully it won't take me 4 months to get around to it!

4th of July at the Beach

I had the best 4th of July! It was spent with some of my favorite people at my favorite place to be...the beach!!! In a funny turn of events, I invited myself to meet up with Mandy (my best friend from college) and her entire family at Pensacola for the long weekend. I really didn't mean to invite myself, but it was so much fun that I am glad I did! Ha!

Mandy's brother, Robin, has a client that let him use the condo for a week and it was sooo nice!!!

the living room

the kitchen/dining area

view from the dining table

the wrap around balcony was my favorite part

Mandy's mom, husband David, and baby Grayson checking out our view

Mandy's dad, Robin, and myself doing the same

sooooo beautiful!!!

We were ready to enjoy the sun! Little did we know it would be the few times we saw it!
Me and Mandy. A storm was coming in and it was so windy. The waves were really big too!
Grayson wasn't a big fan of having sand on his hands or feet!
getting ready to head to dinner at the Crab Trap It was as good as I remembered!

The weather didn't cooperate much the rest of the time that I was there. But, it was still fun just hanging out together! And how could you not have fun looking at this sweet face?!?!

Thank you Skillingberg/Proctor family for a GREAT vacation!!!! I wish we were there this weekend too! :)

The Last Year of My 20's!

So, yesterday was the big day...the first day of the last year of my 20's! It was a very low key birthday but I got to have a special birthday lunch at one of my most favorite places in town.

My parents were catering a luncheon for the University of Arkansas football coaching staff as well as the staff of another D1 school, so I went up there to help them out. I spent my birthday lunch with about 40 of the best college football coaches! Needless to say, it was one of the greatest birthdays I have had! Ha!!! Plus, once all the coaches had come and gone, my dad made me the best hamburger! There is nothing like good food with a good view! It definitely got this year off to a great start!!!

Oh, and I really am going to try to be better about blogging this year!