Artbeat 2009 ....and the end of summer

This summer started out with a lot of ministry goals, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it through at some points. But yesterday was Artbeat 2009, the final curtain call of summer, and I am just feeling grateful for the way the Lord provided.

We had a great audience turn out for both shows, the outside artists from the community were simply stunning, and the Turning Point girls and the other contributors from within Harvest were so fun and touching to watch. Everyone was on top of their game, and it was a spectacular afternoon and evening.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I am hoping Sam will have mercy on me and let me have a quiet day of writing thank you cards that are long overdue, mailing out my first ministry newsletter....and that I can steal away some time to just spend with the Lord and thank Him for all he's done in our lives this summer. That will be the perfect gift, I think!

So....the summer is officially over as far as ministry goes, and I am looking forward to resting these next few weeks and regrouping for fall.

I used to say that spring was my favorite season, but I am finding more and more that I am loving autumn. I'm itching for the weather to cool, to crunch in leaves, bake pumpkin cupcakes and wear cozy sweaters. I can't wait to take Sam up to Apple Hill again now that he is bigger and will be able to play, and just spending time with friends and family before life gets crazy. I guess fall is sort of my summer vacation this year! :)

In other news, I am going to be dancing in a different dance ministry this fall. There is a dance studio at First Covenant Church in Sacramento, and their director was a dancer in Artbeat and invited Ami and I to come perform in their Christmas program. I don't know a lot about it other than it involves Jingle Bells Salsa dance and I am super excited ;)

Here are some Artbeat videos. Pictures to follow soon:

This was the ginormous group dance that I choreographed. Almost every Turning Point girl is in it......


My Artbeat solo this year...I wrote a poem, recorded it, and then ad-libbed a dance. Kinda floopy, but I think that God still used it....


Courtney, who is a senior in high school this year and has been volunteering as a Turning Point leader choreographed this one. We're all in there somewhere..it's like Where's Waldo...in pink....


Super impressed with Jessica's choreography this year.....


Alisha choreographed this for the Rock the Block outreach in South Sacramento at the end of this month, but they were so proud of themselves, we had to put it in Artbeat too :)

Gobsmacked and God Blessed

I hate being gobsmacked.

In the middle of a semi-deep conversation in a semi-dark parking lot, it was brought to my awareness that I have been semi-deceived.

A lot of times in dance, I ask some of the dancers to go rehearse something outside while I am working on a separate section. I assume they actually dance - now I know for a fact that they just sit around and completely ignore what I ask.

Gosh darn it.

I handed out obnoxiously bright yellow pieces of paper with fall dance information on them, and nagged, begged, bartered and threatened...telling the girls to not lose them, they will not receive another copy.

Sure enough, someone already lost theirs and asked for another.

Gosh darn it.

These things hurt. These things frustrate. These things make full time ministry a big huge suckfest.

And then I remember....

God trusts us to do things, and then when we think we are out of sight, we often do the opposite. It usually isn't mean spirited, it is just the humans that we are. And it probably causes a big heavenly gosh darn it out of the big guy.

God hands us the bible. There are many copies of it, easily provided to us. You can even get an obnoxiously bright yellow version.

But many of us still choose to ignore it - I'll be dead honest, I don't know where my favorite bible is right now. No stinking clue. I'm actually pretty certain it's lost and gone forever. I've been using an ancient King James version that I think I accidentally stole from Frank's grandmother, and it is so fulleth of thees and thousts that thy knowth not whateth I readith.

We make bad choices, we commit a major spiritual suckfest. And you know...God doesn't give up on us. He never, ever gives up on us. So who am I to give up, when I know somewhere in the pile of yuck that was this summer, there has got to be a few diamonds in the rough. I am determined to find that sparkle before the world turns to autumn.

Pastor Scott gave me quite possibly the best words on the planet yesterday - he reminded me that while there were 12 disciples, and he loved all 12 very much, he was BFFs with only 3. Not all 12 had the same ministry experience - and I cannot expect to compel 35 teens/adults and over 30 children to all experience dance ministry the same.

I feel such a release in knowing that, and I am looking forward to discovering this fall all the different ways people experience my ministry - some come because they love to dance, some come because they love seeing their friends in an encouraging environment....and hopefully all come because they love Jesus. And if someone doesn't....then thank you Lord, so much, for trusting me to be an example to that person.

Yesterday I was begrudgingly hauling dozens of cardboard boxes to a dumpster in the midday heat because we had made a huge mess of them during the kids camp - and they just would not all stay on the cart. I would go six feet, and one would topple off. I'd get almost there and a little one would lightly hit the cement, or one of the huge ones would make an obnoxiously loud smack. After awhile I started to ignore the falling ones because it was frustrating me so much and I just didn't care anymore...but then I told myself how it is so important to do the job right and go and pick up every one. Don't expect someone else to do it.

Don't leave a single one behind.

God used it as the world's lamest illustration for me, and it really hit home. I am not called to leave ANYONE behind, even when I feel they might leave me behind without a second thought. I need to do my best to help everyone feel loved and wanted, and then trust God to do the rest. Fortunately, unlike the stupid boxes, it isn't too hard of a job! I adore every single dancer, and hold out hope that fall will be a time of renewal and a chance to really connect with each and every one.

P.S....The dumpster is WAY too far away from the church....

Little Camper Stars

Last night was the kids performing arts camp recital. So let's be completely honest with each other - I was thoroughly convinced that it was going to be a tiny talentless train wreck thanks to two little boys who have gone out of their way to make summer feel like going through a meat grinder 12 hours a week. They constantly tried to look up the little girls' dresses, had a marker fight that destroyed one of the walls in the creative arts room, doused the entire bathroom with water (twice) and then, as a grand finale, finally turned on each other with trouble maker # 1 stabbing trouble maker # 2 in the neck with a ball point pen.

However, all that aside, the recital went fantastic! The kids really pulled it off, and even though aforementioned mean boys laughed and rolled their eyes throughout the production and got in a fist fight back stage....the other 34 children are my summer jewels and I am so proud of them.

After the show I asked Alisha to introduce herself to the audience because she is going to be directing the kids' portion of creative arts in the fall. She charmed their patooties off, she was so smooth and "together" and I am so so excited for her to be taking over the kids' section.

So Trinidad - check! Kids showcase - check! All we have left is Artbeat, and then I get to basically sloth my way through September when it comes to dance ministry. I got a little sampling of that today - Sam slept late, and then we went swimming at the new aquatics center. They have three huge pools there, including a baby pool that I am pretty sure resembles what Sam considers to be Heaven. It has spots shallow enough for him to crawl around and splash, portions deep enough that mommy can spin and glide him around, and a big play structure in the middle that sprays out water from all directions. This kid likes to get splashed, and so it was a good afternoon for him.

One thing I've learned about Sam is that there's a strong possibility he'll become a friend that is just brimming with encouragement and support toward others. He is so cute how he just watches big kids play right now, and when they run around laughing, he laughs with them and claps his hands. At 13 months old, he seems to grasp how to be genuinely happy for others, even when he's too little to join in the fun, and that just warms my mommy heart.

He got x-rays on Thursday. His leg is undoubtedly janked from being broken at birth. The older he gets, the more obvious it is....but again we will focus on what a happy, sweet, totally low-drama boy he is and not write about it anymore for now.

Jet Blue is having a deal right now that you can pay a flat rate of $600 and fly as often as you want, wherever you want, for up to a month. Needless to say I am already itching to get back to going somewhere, even though I've only been home a little over a week -- oh well!

I am going to satisfy my travel bug with a trip to the bay area soon - my birthday present to myself will be watching cable TV, going out with friends, and letting my mom take care of Sam ;) And oh yes, forgetting all about the Sacramento HEAT! Fall...you cannot come quickly enough <3

The Galaxy and My Heart

There are certain aspects of my personality that are impossibly nerdy. For example, I love dinosaurs and outer space. Go ahead and digest that, and we will move on.

Tonight I had a little nerd indulgence and read a NASA article about hyperactive stars. They move twice the speed of the sun, which is remarkably fast, and the reason they do so is partially because their host galaxy is positively massive, and yet also quite compact. Sometimes they move quickly when they are nearing a black hole.

Oh Lord, have I ever become this way! I feel like I am just running circles around God's love and promises, partly because the world feels too big and I don't want to miss out on anything - and also because I feel so small, cramped, confined and uncomfortable in my world. And yeah...I near black holes a lot.

Tonight I am going to bed early, and I am going to slow it down and take some time to really enjoy the Lord and all He has done for me. And all He will do! I don't want to zoom around the Son....I want to be loved by Him and feel that love, even when it is so very difficult at times.

As promised, here are some more snapshots that are a small sampling of what's going on in my galaxy right now.


The younger girls in Turning Point right now. I am praying for them a lot. They are great. Here are some of them right after they accidentally broke my bed in Trinidad.


Those I met on the missions trip, and how I won’t see most of them again in this life. This is a shot of me with the girls I led in a bible study all week. We had great talks.


The camp recital coming up SOON!


The future of creative arts ministry. This is little Alex and Taylor…they’re in the performing arts summer camp that is wrapping up next week.

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I really love the beach. How stupid was I to agree to leave the bay area and move over two hours away from it??? Dance ministry on our play day in Trinidad.


Tour jetes are just more fun in water, with a friend. Here are me and Kelly on Maracas beach last Saturday.


Coming home after being away is the sweetest feeling in the world. Being reunited with Sam at Sacramento airport when our team came home.


God is starting to form Cinderella….Reimagined in my head. Please pray that it will be a quality script that is powerful and will impact lives when all is said and done. <3

Back in California <3

Last night a little after 10pm, our plane touched down in Sacramento after a long, long day of flying and chaotic layovers. We have returned from almost 2 weeks of ministry in Trinidad, and while it was a good trip, I am very glad to be home!

I will write more (and post more pictures - we as a team have literally over 3,000 photos total!) but wanted to update our ministry supporters - thank you for your continued prayers and it was great to sleep in my own bed after 11 days sleeping on the floor with foreign, ominous looking insects :) But I do so love Trinidad and look forward to planning another trip there in 2011.

We had the world's greatest team - no fighting, minimal complaining - it was total bliss having the ones we had with us. It was a bit of a challenge working with Missions International, the group that hosted us. It was really disorganized, left me more than a little disheartened, and I definitely have a lot to process and think/pray about. HOWEVER, everyone on the team really stepped up and we had a fantastic week long VBS with the Trini children at a local church there, danced in some churches, and best of all - we got to go back to the Chickland Wesleyan Orphanage we had visited two years before. It was simply amazing seeing how much the children had grown and having a wonderful reunion with the older ones who remembered Courtney, Kelly, and I.

We also got to see some great things when we weren't doing ministry, including going to see dozens of baby sea turtles hatch on the beach in the middle of the night. God's creations are incredible - and in this particular instance, totally adorable!
















I will post photos of the complete team, the VBS children and the orphanage in the few days.....please pray for all 13 of us as we process what we saw, felt, experienced, and as the ministry gets ready for the children's performing arts camp showcase, Artbeat 2009, and Cinderella Reimagined auditions, oh my!