The Second Chance

Okay, now that I've got some time, I can try and give a short review of my opinion of The Second Chance. After getting past the distraction of MWS acting(which wasn't completely awful, just odd seeing him on the screen), I then had to try and stomach the fact that the "whitey" church they portrayed is sadly more common than I want to believe. So, I think it did a good job of representing how evangelical christians tend to throw money at a problem in the inner cities, making themselves "feel-good" because they've just helped the needy. I don't claim to know what the best way is to help in that area... but I know that it's more than just throwing money something. And, I don't know if this movie did any good to say how to do it either. Not sure where I'm going with this anymore. My general feeling was that I'm glad I saw it... it was surprisingly better than I thought... seriously... for a christian movie. It wasn't AS cheesy as ones put out by Billy Graham, etc. (no offense to the man)... and I'd probably watch this one over any of the Left Behind ones (only seen one, and not by my choice... it was enough). It could have had better character developement and a way better ending... but like I said... for me, it was worth seeing.

Hopefully this review wasn't too painful to read through my jumbled thoughts and ramblings...

Update on Raheem

Good news. Raheem is at home and feeling better.

In other news, I went to see "The Second Chance" last night. I'll give it a review soon, just no time right now. I am going to my sister's because they bought a house! Yay.. such a good thing for them, but it's still an hour away... the city is called Paynesville... what a sad name. It's just 10-15mins west of St. Cloud, so atleast they will be close to a major city. Not TOO hick-landish. Well, I must leave, but if you have seen that movie and have any opinions... feel free to leave them here... good, bad... ugly... whatever. :)

lata

Raheem

My dear Raheem who I met this summer in Belize is not doing so well. He has double pnuemonia and the last I heard they didn't know how long he may hold on. So, if you think of it, send a prayer up for him. My prayer:

Lord God,
You are the divine healer, and I pray your healing hand would touch Raheem, let him not suffer any longer. Whatever that means Lord, your will be done...

Amen

I've been a Valentine's grinch most of the day... but I thought I'd show a little spirit and have fun with it... so here's my greeting to you all in blogland! Hope you had a lovely day(now that it 's actually over... i'm up late as usual)

SUPERbowl!

Hello again out there in blogland! It has been awhile since I've gone for over two weeks without a post. I just haven't had an urge to post or known what to post about. Well, tonight I had a great idea because of the Superbowl... everyone who watched the Superbowl has SOMEthing to say about it... even myself who doesn't usually sit down to watch a game, unless there is some sort of gathering. FOr me, the draw was mostly for the commercials... I guess I'm a bit of the typical female or stereotypical female when it comes to that. I have to say though, this year I actually got into the game... the party I was at had most people rooting for the SeaHawks, so I naturally took the side of the Steelers, for some good competition. The thing is, I actually really can get into it when there are great plays to be seen, and for me, I'd say this game had some pretty great moments! So... Congrats STEELERS! :)

The best two commercials this year for me were...
Budweiser commercial with the streaking sheep/lamb! That was fricken hilarious!!
and
MAC GYVER mastercard comercial!! (sp?) That was Awesome... wouldn't have ever thought of that. (the whole time I was thinking/hoping that Erin should be watching this!! )

Brown and Bubbly Pepsi commercial get's the "so stupid, it unfortunately made me chuckle at the end" award, but that's just my opinion.

So, there you have it... did anyone else have a favorite commercial or moment in the game?

A TRIBUTE TO SCOTT! and "The Office" Obsession

Our dear friend and co-worker Scott announced to us last friday that he is moving on from VVG. The reasons definitely make sense, and he will be greatly missed, and never forgotten for the many qualities and successes he brought to our team. One of those things was being influential in the decision to use a new printer for our large run CD booklet/traycard printing. Just one of the small things he added to the company... so to honor him on his last day(tomorrow, friday), "the design team" (and Angela, our production superstar) we wanted to give him a fun surprise... so, VOILA... (post-its and tinfoil are so handy! I think we may need to order some more)

Before/After

(I was in a wierd mood all day! it's not all that abnormal tho)

(although it's not a 100% new idea, we took this on to a superb, if I do say so myself, level of creativity!)

I'm sure this day will be a most memorable one for him... i think the preparation has been half the fun already... this is definitely in my top 5 favorite memories of VVG!

WE LOVE YOU SCOTT... you will be missed by all very much!
-----

And now on to "The Office" obsession... oh, you thought the previous story was my obsession... not in the least, although as I said... very fun and sad (i will say it did inspire some notes/quotes on the post-its). My new favorite sitcom is The Office, and I know I'm not the only one who digs it, but seriously I wonder if I'm the only one who laughs out loud multiple times during each episode. I really can't get enough of it, and to fill in the void of when I'm waiting from one week to the next to watch, there is even a website with fun features. One such feature is a blog from Dwight... it's his actual character posting blogs. I just discovered this today while searching for more quotes for my post-its. I am going to have to catch up... one of the latest ones was his reaction to LOST, the episode about Eko(sp?). What fun! I think you all should link up to this and check it out, you'll get some good laughs, especially if you work in an office setting.

Balanced!

One thing I hate most in life is balancing my checkbook... I finally got a new checking account and things seemed to be going fairly well, until I made a couple stupid mistakes and made myself get overdrawn because I transfered money to a diff. account before I should have.(forgive my run-on sentence) It was so frustrating because I had the money... it just wasn't in the right account! GRR! I really don't know what I was thinking. So, for the last week I relied on my credit card until things just leveled out again. Thank Goodness for Online Banking!
I had to set everything straight in my checkbook tonite and wanted to make sure it all balanced out. I was nervous as I wrote everything in and started calculating... the first time through, it came up unbalanced, but I remembered a couple things and re-calculated and VOILA! Perfect Match! How Beautiful life is when those things check off right, makes me want to do a little dance that I did it right, without having to call my dad and ask... "Okay, so do I add the deposits or subtract them... I always forget?" I Remembered myself... (pat on the back)... this seems like a silly thing to post, but I haven't had a statement balance out like that for atleast a year. That makes me smile! :)

Oh, and this past weekend was the Sr. High Winter retreat at Timber Bay Bible Camp... it was a great weekend! Here's a couple pictures... sunsets, broomball, and a somewhat creative pic for ya.

(as you can see, to the right of this picture, someone wiped out... it was WAY slippery!)
(careful getting up, Gary!)It is so beautiful and peaceful up-north!

grrr

Haiti is cancelled...

Lord, I don't understand sometimes... but well, life has never always been easy to understand... so why should it change now!

excerpt from "Foreverandever etc." by David Crowder

I think I'm on the brink of something large
Maybe like the breaking of a dawn
Or maybe like a match being lit
Or the sinking of a ship
Letting go gives a better grip

I'm finding everything I'll ever need
By giving up gaining everything
Falling for You for eternity
Right here at Your feet
Where I wanna be
I am Yours

definitely random... news... blogger books... snowmen..

• New anchor on Kare 11... Who is this Mike guy anyways?
I've been a pretty loyal fan to Kare11 for most of my news-watching life, which I'd say is about 10-15years or so. I don't consistently watch the news, but when I can, I do and it's just not the same if it's not Kare11. So, when all this change started with Ken Barlow and Frank Vascellero leaving, I have to admit I was a little disapointed. So, I'm skeptical of this new Mike Pomeranz, but he seems to be pretty MN saavy, etc... check out his bio on www.kare11.com, and see for yourself :).

• Blogging Book at Borders...
I was strolling through Borders tonight, looking at some Graphic Design and Web Design books, and as I skimmed the shelves my eye caught a book with the title put simply "Blogging." It made me laugh because I wondered who needed a book about Blogging, it's pretty easy to set up with the step by step instructions. Despite my initial mocking, I picked it up and began to skim the pages. I surprised myself in thinking, hmm, should I get this?... this thought came to me because I still have yet to figure out how to get a fricken picture on my profile page. It's easy to get them into the body of a post, but they make you go through a bunch of rig-a-ma-roll for the profile pic. Why do I need a photo hosting site, JUST for a picture on my profile? Picasa/Hello or whatever that thing is doesn't work for Macs... (stupid) and I can't seem to get it to connect to my .mac homepage which holds a few pictures. WHATEVER... I didn't buy it though, because I knew I wouldn't use all the info in it for what it was worth. It was interesting to realize that Blogging has been around long enough for a book to be published about it. It seems I'm a wee babe in this blogging world... always learning :).

• Snowmen
I just thought I'd share my snowman story. It's not that exciting, but just thought I'd leave you with a laugh...
I took the day off friday, and as all of the Minnesotans know, we got a beautiful new layer of fluffy white and wet snow to add to our already pretty large portion. Every other time it has snowed this year, when it was really good sticky snow, I've been at work or been really busy. Whenever I'm at work I say (sometimes aloud even) I just want to go home and make a snowman. I went about my day doing mostly mundane things, until I was driving back from Target and remembered my thought of the previous snowfalls... I just want to make a snowman. I questioned myself, it I really would find it fun... especially doing this all alone, but I went inside (waited for the snowplow guys to leave) put my snow gear on and, yes, made a snowman. This turned out to be a lovely snowman, though I had to be creative with the detailing... black olives for eyes, a carrot nose and celery for arms. The olives were not so fun to make stick for the eyes, so I couldn't imagine trying to make a mouth out of them. Instead, being the painter I am, I got out my tempera paints and put a red smile on him. Of course he also has a hat on his head, a scarf, and mittens on the ends of his extremities. (though one slid off because the celery drooped already) :(

With that, I'm signing off... the moral of the last story is... "You're never too old to be a kid!"

Updates...

Hello folks! Now that the letters are out, I thought I'd break the news onto this blog as well! I'm going back to Haiti... YIpeEE! So, if you want more info, etc... or a letter in that case, email me/post a comment or hop on over to www.haitijournal.blogspot.com

I will be trying to keep that blog updated with thoughts and prayers about this new journey(yet, not so new in my heart :))

In other news...
I bought a digital camera (gulp, an overwhelming process)... I like it... I think... it's such a big purchase, but it's one of those small Nikon Coolpix cameras... it feels too small to really take decent pictures. But as in other areas of life I should remind myself... size doesn't always matter! :) It's got 5.1 megapixels and 3x zoom, and a Lithium/Ion battery... I was going to get this other one that seemed a bit more sturdy, but you had to buy a battery charger and AA rechargable batteries too... an extra 30bucks... that one had 5x zoom, but I just don't think I use zoom enough anyways. And, this one I got seems to do pretty well... although when I try to shoot with the Macro mode with no flash, it wigs out and a "steady camera" icon blinks. I even set it on the table and shot the object and it still wouldn't go away. Annoying! So, I'll have to figure that one out, and I got free passes to the classes that National Camera gives, so that'll be good. Here are a couple fun shots I took while playing with it last night.

I think this one was actually without the macro setting on, and auto flash... not bad I guess. I wish I could have gotten outside to take some wintry snow shots, but the day just got away from me. Bummer! Owell... that's all for now.

Have a Happy New Year ya'll!

cherry coke! :)

A couple blogs back I mentioned a cool picture of a cherry coke.
Let me tell you, I'm usually all about lots of cherries, but I didn't want anymore cherries for a long time after that... there were probably 6 more down inside the drink that you can't even see!

(for a reminder of the blog click here and read para. 4)

and the icecream sundae...

So, that was my time at TGIFridays, I sure left with a full stomach!











I didn't mention anything in the birthday blog about my experience at "The Shout House"... it's a piano bar in Block E in Minneapolis... a dueling piano bar, actually! You can put in requests, etc, and of course they caught word that it was my birthday. So, they had me and another girl whose birthday it was, come up and sit on the piano. Then, they called up all the "single guys" of the place to come and sing "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'"... hmm... as the picture shows... I was a bit embarassed, especially since it took half the song for any of my friends to come up... well, now that I think of it, only one in attendance was single, but he dragged a couple others up with him.













This is another picture at the Shout House of Heather, my old roomate, and the piano player doing the "actions" to Grease Lightning. She happened to stand up and do them right by the table, so he saw her and couldn't help but make her get up on stage, since she was already standing and doing them. It was pretty hilarious!

I Celebrate the Day... by Relient K

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to
let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me,
in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that
You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the
things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

I really like this song, it really made me think of things a bit differently. The whole disk is actually really good... It's called "Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hands" The title made me laugh! :) Most of the carols on this disk are in Relient K goofy fun style, except this one and maybe one or two others.

A Cave...

This weekend in church we heard from a speaker(I forget her name, sorry), a friend of Jan Bros'... she talked about times of being in the dark and how we often run from those times. I think I have been doing that for the last couple of weeks.
It is good to be told not to run, but to acknowledge what it is, and wait. The question she asked close to the end was, "What are you waiting for?"
The answer to that question, I'm not sure right now...

if nothing else... waiting to not feel like I'm on a rollercoaster of emotions.

pondering this for now...

Reflections on my day

Today started out pretty normal, pulled myself outta bed about 7:29am, took a shower, got ready and the whole bit. I wondered if anyone would call me this morning with birthday wishes, but nope. Okay, no big deal.
I drove to work and as I pulled into the parking lot I could feel myself get really overwhelmed with tears... I shook it off and a little while into the workday I got my first phone call... it was my 4 year old niece, Sarah! "Hello Antie Lisa... pause (overhearing sis's voice, "remember what you were going to say?").. Happy Birthday!" I say thank you and she proceeds to tell me how she went to the store with mommy and they got strawberry and cherry and green apple gum, and that Joshy(who is going to be 3 in January) was eating some and she was eating some. Cute, and then she asks, "Antie, when are you going to come to my house and see me?" I said hopefully soon, and she replies "Okay, you have to come so you can have some of my gum."
How cute is that... I love that the coolest thing for her was getting gum at the store and hoping that I would come soon so she could share it with me. She tried handing the phone to Joshua, but he only does things on his terms these days.. he'll only do it if it was his idea from the beginning. :) No biggie (boys... sometimes they just never change... tee hee... jk) I ended the phone call with my sister who was driving and had Joshua now complaining about something Sarah had done.
Got back to work after that... Mom called and said Happy Birthday... Always nice to hear your mom's voice on your birthday. Georgia finally got to work around 10:30ish and we chatted for a bit. She's always great at making you feel special... she happened to tell/remind(although she denies it) a few of our common friends that it was my birthday. That was sweet, so randomly throughout the day a got some emails and text messages from those ppl. One of the calls was from her older brother Joe, he's somebody who I often just joke around with because he's so easy to pick on. He never calls for me, so when I picked up and said hello and he said who it was, I knew it was because Georgia told him it was my bday. I quickly answered, "Well, hi Joe, how are you?" With a bit of sarcasm in my voice, and he responds by saying "You sound a little sassy today" I said, "Sassy?" He said, "Yeah, but I hear it's your birthday, so it's okay"... what a randomly funny kid. Anyways... I don't know why I told that story... but it just stuck out as funny to me.
We went to lunch at TGIFriday's and of course they told the waitress it was my birthday. I forget that they like to tie balloons all over you... in fact each server comes with two and ties them on. Good thing it wasn't dinner time, or they'd have way more servers on. It was a nice lunch and really got me in a good mood... it helped that the waitress put about 12 cherries in my cherry coke. (which I got a sweet digital pic of that I'm hoping to post in the near future) We then went to Avant Garden, the best coffee shop in downtown Anoka, and I'd have to say maybe even in Minnesota! :) The coolest part about going there was that I saw my good old friend from my old church, Brooke, her birthday is Dec. 3rd... and we always remembered our birthdays... so immediately when she saw me she said "Happy Birthday" and I said "Happy Birthday to you in two days!" It was pretty cool... we caught up quick and then she had to leave.

(sorry this is getting long)

We got back to work and I got a couple other calls and what not... but I just have to say a couple cool things that happened out of my control that were just cool. For the last couple years there hasn't been a whole lot of snow on my birthday, so I told a couple people and just thought to myself that it would be fun to have snow on my birthday. Yay, it snowed before my birthday... and even better there was a pretty snowfall off and on all day out my window. It was something small, and I would've lived without it, but it happened.
Cool thing number two came in a very odd way. You see... I really love flowers, especially roses. About three months ago or so, for some reason I just got it in my head that all I really wanted for my birthday was to get flowers or roses from someone, anyone, well someone I knew atleast. There really isn't that special someone who I knew I might get any from, so coming up to my day I knew it would be pretty unlikely. It wasn't like I was going to tell my mom or anyone... hey can you have my dad or can you have someone get me flowers. That would be silly and not mean anything... so whatever. I was sitting at my desk today and would randomly think about the flowers and kept telling myself, it's not going to happen and that's really okay. I have all these people who care and love me, that really is enough. Well, the four o'clock hour rolled around and I was leaving at 5pm... not much left to do, but wait for this one guy to pick up some postcards and print some posters, etc. As I was checking the printer, the guy who was picking up his posters came around the corner. He knew it was my birthday because he was supposed to come at 2 and pick up then, but was told we were going out to lunch for my birthday. Paul is his name, and he is a counselor and now author of the book he is having us(me) design. A very thoughtful and "counselor" type person, always giving a lot of affirmation of the designs I've done, etc. (sometimes too much... but he's married with children, so don't think this is wierd)... So, back to today... he came around the corner and said Happy Birthday... and had some sort of flower(s) to give me. I was floored... it felt wierd at first, I kept telling him it was so unnecessary, but thanked him kindly. I finally brought it back to my desk and opened it... a single White Rose!! It took me a minute to realize what and who it really was from...
Thanks God...

I've said things before about not liking the word "blessing" and over spiritualizing things... but this... I can't explain it... I truly believe that Paul was just the messenger/catalyst. It wasn't going to appear out of no where... He cares... he cares about the little things... and the big things.

I also have to give a big shout out to Angela... she doesn't have time to read this, but I know she has been trying her best to make this a good birthday for me. We went to PF Chang's tonite and had a lovely dinner... and then we went to Express so I could find something fun to wear tomorrow night... Going to The Shout House... and what do you know... I had a gift card from awhile back that had $20 on it, I had totally forgotten about it, and I originally got a 10dollar off card from them for my birthday... sweet!! :)

So... yes... the big 2-5... it was a good day...
love to all...

It's official... the big 2-5

hmm... well, I was just lying in bed trying to fall asleep and I couldn't. Tomorrow(or today, rather) is the looming birthday... my quarter life birthday has come and sometimes it feels a little depressing. I'm not going to wallow in it or anything... but I'm on the closer end to being thirty than I am to being twenty. Yes, I know, I'm young... not married and no kids... I'm free to make my decisions independently. So, that's what I'm focusing on... and beginning to make some new goals for myself... where I want to be in five years from now....

• close to or already have bought my own house

• quite possibly be all free-lancing in design or decorative painting on walls... or canvas

• have taken a trip to Europe?!

hmm... i know there are more... but now my brain is definitely shutting down... maybe I can hit they hay now...

asta la vista

A Thanksgiving verse/"blessing" for you all...

I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way–in all your speaking and in all your knowledge– because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1Corinthians 1:4-9 (NIV)

version from The Message:
Every time I think of you– and I think of you often!– I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There's no end to what has happened to you–it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.
Just think– you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside you to keep you steady and on track until all things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

As I was reading this in the NIV version, I was trying to make sense of it, and wanted to put it on here as a prayer of thanks to my friends. I decided to take a look at it from "The Message" point of view, and really liked it's version. I love how God surprises me while reading a verse I'm intending for something else and then it's like BAM... "no Lisa, that was for you too"

letting go

I've been at this place for awhile now, learning what it means to fully let go, and where to go from here.

Gripping on so tight with the security I have inside
Knowing what is right holding onto my pride

Letting go of the things I hold so dear
Letting go of all my pain and all my fears
Letting go of the things I hold so dear
Letting go of all my pain and all my fears

I have been brought to a place
Where I want to give up everything
Where all I can do is seek your face
And my brokenness I will bring

Holding on to the things I deem so strong
Holding on even tho my faith has been built so long
Holding on to the things I deem so strong
Holding on to what I know

I'm letting go

-Jeremy Camp



God, grant me the grace of a deep and true repentance.

deliver me

Deliver me out of the sadness
Deliver me from all the madness
Deliver me courage to guide me
Deliver me Your strength inside me

CHORUS:
All of my life
I've been in hiding
Wishing there was someone just like You
Now that You're here
Now that I've found You
I know that You're the One to pull me through

Deliver me loving and caring
Deliver me giving and sharing
Deliver me this cross that I'm bearing

Oh, deliver me

Jesus, Jesus how I trust You
How I've proved You o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus
Deliver me
Come and pull me through
Come pull me through

- david crowder

lesson learned

During the summer(and a couple times since) you may remember my mention of the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge, how great it was and that I was getting a lot out of it. I wished I knew this stuff and could've held it close during those late high-school/early college years of my life.
That got me thinking about my small group girls, and the junior girls in general(only a third of them are in my group), and got me thinking about doing some kind of bible study/book study with them. I did some talking with a few of them to see if it was something they would be interested in, and I got a lot of positive feedback. But, I was still hesitant, mostly because I've never felt like a stellar, "teaching leader," if you will. I can listen to girls, give advice, encouragement and prayer, but put me in a position of teaching and I feel so inadequate.
After a lot of prayer(and talking to Scott) and procrastination, I finally made up a flyer about it and took the junior girls aside before small groups and told them about this opportunity which was to start November 13th(today).
This was a week and a half ago, which I thought would be enough time. If I had mentioned it too early in advance, I thought they'd forget. I made sure to make an announcement on wed. night to remind them that it was this sunday, and a lot of them asked me about it to confirm directions etc.
Unfortunately, only two ended up making it tonight! :( I was all ready and prepared too! I was a bit disapointed, but things just happen, and they just seemed to happen to a bunch of them tonight. The three of us talked a little bit about what it would look like and also thought of about 5 people who were originally planning to come.
So, I'm not too upset, but the one thing I didn't plan so well was how much in advance I should be letting students know about things. I always forget how busy they are as well, and that two weeks probably would have been ideal. I was just so focused about wanting it to start, and frustrated with my procrastinating, that I didn't want to wait longer. But my lesson has been learned, it didn't get me any further. owell...

exactly.

For some time now, I've been trying to some up how I've been feeling inside. It has been a mish mash of things, which seem to be happening around me, things I feel I have no control over. I've had a hard time describing it, because I haven't wanted to sound mopy or like I'm having a pity party. But tonite (early sun. morning), I ran across Jan's blog and it spoke so much of what I've been feeling... read it here if you haven't already.

The first line reads:
What do you do with the undone places of life? The sentences which never get punctuated? The stories which never get told? The relationships which are always open ended? The dreams which are never fulfilled?

wow... those are deep things, and the ones I've been thinking about lately are the relationships and dreams never fulfilled. She also talks about an "ache"... i've had that often lately.
But I love how she so simply and wonderfully completes it...

In Christ All things will be made new.

That is the only place where I'll truly be fulfilled in every single way, which completely explains why I feel the things I do, even though it's a hard answer.
You should read it if you haven't... it's really good.
So, Jan, if you ever run across this... thanks for such great words!