Experience Mission

Saturday, 4 AM, wake up in the dark to take my darling daughter, who just turned 18, to the airport.  She would be flying first to Atlanta, then on to Jamaica, with a team of 16 other church members, predominately youth, to do mission work.

She was nervous.  New experience.  No family with her.  Foreign country.  Unsure exactly what work they will be asked to do.  Afraid she forgot something (they have to take work tools as well as personal supplies and work clothes).  Eating meals consisting of foods she may never had heard of.  But I know she will do great mission work!  It's in her heart.

Catadupa, Jamaica is a rural mountain village about 19 miles from Montego Bay, but worlds apart in appearance and culture.  Some of the things mission groups have done in the past include planting gardens, building structures, painting, ministry and worship, as well as working with the kids of the community.

Last year, one of the tasks they tackled was laying a new foundation for a family home that had burned down.  They will be assigned to do whatever is necessary on this trip.  Each night, they spread the word of God and worship with the community.  She is very excited about working with the kids.

I am so proud of my daughter.  She raised the necessary funds by herself, and when she is determined, she can accomplish anything.  I know this experience is going to change her life.

Please join me in praying for her team.
Catadupa photos courtesy of Experience Mission.

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A Cat Story

1.  My cat, Lacy, is supposed to be an indoor kitty.  My husband, however, likes to let her out in the back yard, usually in the morning.
2.  He leaves the door cracked so she can come in when she is ready.
3.  Sometimes he leaves for work before she comes in.  That is when things get interesting.
4.  One day, she had a locust in her mouth, and it was buzzing loudly.  She was so scared of the buzzing, and I don't think she knew the buzzing was in her mouth. We were laughing so hard.  Upstairs, downstairs, upstairs,, behind the couch, etc.  She finally and dropped it.
5.  One evening, I heard a strange meow which means she has something in her mouth.  Then I heard a squeaking.  Mice really do squeak!  It was a baby mouse, and she had injured it, I think.  She still ran upstairs with it, so I tried to sweep it into the dustpan to get it outside, but I think it died.
6.  Another thing she brought in was a snake.  I have no idea what kind or whether or not it was alive because I hate snakes!  When I heard her weird meow and peeked to see what she had, I ran! Thank goodness my husband was here to deal with that one!
7.  A few days ago, I heard that strange meowing again.  This time it was a lizard.  A big, fat, black lizard, definitely not your garden-variety green lizard.
8.  I dislike lizards almost as much snakes.  No one was here to help me!  I got a trashcan and trapped it before I realized he could probably slide out from under it.  So, the nearest heavy item was our scale.  I held a side of the scale up right in front of the trashcan, lifted the side of the can nearest to the scale, and dropped it on him.
9.  Turns out it was trapped, not smashed as I had hoped.  But I had to stay out the bathroom all day and keep the kitty away because she wanted to play with it, until my husband came home and took it out.
10.  Today, my daughter and I were sitting on the couch, and the cat was behind the loveseat (which is open - not in front of a wall), and we kept hearing a clicking noise.  It sounded like the cat was playing with the wildlife again.
11.  This was just a bug, although I have no idea what kind... black, about an inch long.  When I tried to step on it, it jumped about a foot off the floor.  When it landed, it made the clicking noise my daughter and I had heard before we knew what it was.   Never saw one like it before!
12.  It must have had a hard shell that made the noise when it jumped and landed on the wood floors.
13.  It took me three times, but I was finally able to make contact and flush it!
And that's my cat story, and I'm sticking to it! In spite of all this, I love her!

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Tackle it Tuesday

I'm in the process of moving all of my scrapbooking supplies into one of our bedrooms that is not being used anymore, and it's taking a while to get organized, but I've made major progress.

I got all of my paper organized, first the solids (white, brown, black,, ROYGBIV) and the printed papers below that.

This is my desk.  I'm still working on the best arrangement for the desktop, but I got my wall just about the way I want it.

This is my spooled ribbon as well as my washi tape.

I feel like I've gotten a lot done, and I'm happy with it!
5 Minutes for Mom hosts Tackle it Tuesday.

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Feeling Crafty

I'm linking up with The Blog HobKnob sponsored by Madeinaday.com.http://madeinaday.com/

This has been a lazy summer so far.  Last year, I got a part time job and kept it through December.  I'll be taking my daughter off to college this summer, but I have had three weeks of laziness so far.  I have done a few crafts so far.

I made a patriotic wreath.

Here are some birthday cards I made.

I learned to make a paper rosette, but I've had a hard time repeating it.  It's harder than it looks!

I'm going on a scrapbook retreat with my sister in a week.  Can't wait!

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It's Just My Opinion

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Star crossed lovers meet tragic end. Romeo and Juliet? No. Although the author borrowed his title from a Shakespearean sonnet, Romeo and Juliet this is not!

Don't get me wrong. I liked the book. Emphasis on liked. Perhaps I bought into the "hype" and expected too much, but I did not find it "epic," "tragic," or "surprising" in any way. I wanted to be emotionally invested, swept up in a surging tide of romance and tragedy, but reading TFIOS was more like a lazy float down the river.

The author's pretentiousness, and the precocious characterization, annoyed me. I actually tired of the nonstop metaphors. The author seemed to be trying too hard. The characters, although they were suffering from cancer, were not exactly likeable, and the story itself was predictable from the beginning. To the people who say it made them cry, I must ask, "Why?" I knew what was going to happen, and these fictional characters are not, quite frankly, sympathetic. No, I did not cry.

This was just a good book. Good, not great.


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