Catching Up

I have not memorized John 14-17 but have managed to retain the book of James. I have memorized all the verses of the John passage but did not adequately review them to say them in one setting. The fault is my own. I was going great and had the first 2 chapters cold and was working on chapter 16 when my discipline of rising early took a sharp decline. If I don't get up with sufficient time to pray, read and memorize scripture then it just doesn't get done. I am resurrecting early rising (pun intended) and hope to make the next goal. I want to reclaim Philippians, a book that I had memorized in the past, plus quote John 14-17 and James before January 16. I have enough time, the only question is my personal discipline.

I'm off

It's been a long time since I blogged. It becomes pretty obvious when you type the wrong username and the computer doesn't even remember your correct username anyway. To be brutally honest I felt a wonderful sense of freedom and peace in not blogging. But I suppose I do need to move on to the subject I'm actually blogging on. This January (Lord willing) I will be attending the ALERT Academy in Big Sandy Texas. As I begin packing and yes, even shopping (shudder) I'm getting more and more excited. There, now you have news about the Creers who have been silent for two months.

Getting Serious

I have given the impression to most that know me that I take the Bible as the verbal and plenary inerrant word of God. Lately God has been asking me "Oh really. If that is so, what would be the evidence of Psalm 1 in my life?" I didn't have a good answer. I have a strong to desire to be a success but haven't really applied God's formula. So I have become more intentional in memorizing and meditating on the God's word. Joshua and I set October 1st as our deadline for memorizing James. We had been trying for a couple of years. He made it, I did it on October 2nd. I have to memorize John 14-17 by December 8th and reclaim Philippians by mid-January before Joshua leaves for ALERT. We also want to retain what we memorize. On December 8th I have to quote John 14-17 and the book of James. In January I have to quote Philippians, James and John 14-17. So far, since October 2nd, I can quote John 14:1-15:8 and can still quote James. I will keep you posted. Joshua as well as you followers of this blog can keep me accountable.

The Big Zero

Sunday morning I woke up to see my dad looking at me with concern. Then he said, "who are you"? I was so sleepy, I just kind of stared. Not the words you expect your father to greet you with. "I had a 19 year old daughter last night, but I don't know who you are". My dad was up to his old tricks again. Ever since we were little on our birthdays, he pretends that we are different people. What a great way to start my big day of turning 20.

I had just returned from CYIA so my mom told me we could have a relaxed day. In the evening, we had popcorn, pretzels, and sun tea. Mmmm! Then the door bell rang. There stood the Kroeker family. They sang to me and gave me KitKat chocolates.

After dinner Kelsey said she had another present for me. It was a surprise so I had to close my eyes while she went to the van. I love surprises, but I wasn't prepared for this. She placed something warm on my lap. Scroll down to see what they gave me. It was perfect! I love birthdays.

Matthew 5:16

Recently I was at a school training session at Schilling Elementary from 8AM -3:30PM. Velda made my lunch so when everyone else left for lunch I sat on a bench in the playground to eat. While there, a woman with eight children came to play and some of them were on bikes. Some of the bikes were in bad condition. I walked over and introduced myself and asked if I could work on some of the bikes and have fixed one since then and have 2 more to go. It turns out she runs a daycare in her home. I credit Bruce Whitely for planting the seeds of this idea in me. For years he has fixed bicycles for children in his neighborhood. He goes so far as to drive around town to find bicycles to fix that he can give away. He has fixed our bicycles when needed and gave Velda a bike when hers bit the dust. As I deliver the last bike, I hope to share that this is not natural behavior for me but a result of God in my life.

Washed!

I don't recall having ever been baptized. So I decided to follow Jesus in obedience to remove all doubt. I was baptized in the baptistry of 1st Covenant Church on Sunday, February 7, 2011

Two February Events

I just had an ingenious idea! Why not blog about two events in one post. Now I know some of you may be thinking "She didn't think of that till know?" But this a big discovery. (for me at least)

My first event I'm going to blog about is the Library Book Sale which happened yesterday the previous time I had only found two books which was rather disappointing. This time, however, I found at least six(I haven't counted them yet).

My next event is our Sunday School Valentine's Party which happened on February 12th. Altogether 4 people showed up three students and one teacher we had a wonderful time! First we went shopping for the Pregnancy Service Center and then came back to our house and gorged ourselves on snacks then had lots of fun and laughter playing Apples to Apples. All in all the two hours sped by.

And those are my two posts.

Over&Out

GRACE

Fiesta of Faces

So there I was bouncing down the road for an hour in a fifteen passenger van. Why was I doing this you ask? I was beginning to wonder the same thing myself. For the past school year, I have helped teach the English as a Second Language class at our church. Our ESL group was invited to a International dinner in Manhattan. As we drove 3 students were speaking Mongolian, 2 students were speaking Japanese, and 2 more students were speaking Chinese. I was speaking nothing. At this point, I engaged the young man seated next to me in an English conversation. It was very intriguing to learn about China and his perspective on big cities, college and American football. I told him that I was always the shortest kid in my class. He told me in China I would be a mid-sized girl. Maybe I should move to China!

In the meantime, we had arrived in Manhattan. Once we entered, I immediately had an excitement surge. There were literally people from all over the world! As we put on our name tags, I had a devious thought. Instead of putting my name and country, I simply put my name. The students also became excited as they saw people from their country. There were people from over 40 countries at the dinner. As we ate, one student asked me, "Why didn't you get any fried chicken?" Who wants fried chicken when there's tofu and all the other delicious things on my plate that I could not identify?

After dinner we had the Roll call of the Nations where each country was acknowledged. One Taiwanese boy purposely stood up when they called Vietnam, but no one other than our table could tell the difference. Then, we had the fashion show when people who had worn their traditional clothing would parade across the stage. The clothing was beautiful. At the end, a young man from China gave his testimony of how he came to Christ here in America. He was brave to do so and hopefully convicted others.

Once again on the way home, I heard three different languages around me, but it was okay this time. I loved seeing all the different people groups together. My one disappointment is that only one person came up and asked: Where are you from?

Birthday Boy

On February 24, I turned the monumental age of eighteen. I even registered to vote (not that I know who is running, but just in case). I received a variety of gifts. Phone calls, cards, lunch, candy, money, a 1,402 piece LEGO from my parents, and finding out that our basketball team won our league. Overall a great birthday.

Tutor Trivia

Over the past three semesters in college, I have had a very interesting variety of tutors. Each one has a particular personality about them that makes them unique. Here are some examples.

My first tutor had a grade book that averaged out my grade that he sent me each week. He also highlighted a particular character quality to ponder on and a story to teach a lesson. He must have had time on his hands to think things out.

My second tutor was a lady who had a major part in writing the course I was taking. That made me nervous. She also sent specific instructions to override the original course instructions. Once I asked a question about the insights from a word study and she sent me back a five page answer! It took me two days to get up the courage to read it. However, it actually helped me a more than I thought.

My current tutor likes details as well. He asked me to send him a biography telling him my background. One of the questions was: what does your house look like? He also sent me a picture of his house. I decided not to send a picture because His looks a lot better!

Another current tutor that I have, I don't know well at all. He sent me a biography of himself. My dad now refers to him as " the one word tutor." I sent him my biography and got an email that said one word: thanks. I am actually glad He isn't very detailed because my other tutors sure are!

Often, my tutors make me chuckle which keeps school fun. They each have their strengths and they help polish my character. Now I wonder what they think of me when they get my emails...

The Choice

This morning, I was sitting considering the options for the future. My associate's degree in Child and Youth Character Development is almost done. This spring I will finish all my class work and then will move on to an internship. Since, I have several options for this internship it is hard deciding which one. It seemed logical to get advice from wise people in my life and then go with my instinctive choice. After all, the culture tells me to follow my heart.

However, the passage I came across this morning counsels otherwise. While considering my choices, I thought of Jer. 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" God seemed to be striking out the choice of relying on my instincts.

Then, it occurred to me that I had never read the passage around this well known verse. I soon found the first verse had some very strong language. "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord" (Jer. 17:5). Whoa, there goes my second option of relying on other's advice! It was if God was saying to me, that people will fail me. Listening to others is important, but God showed me another choice.

"7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (Jer. 17:7-8).

The last verse in the passage reminded me why trusting the Lord supersedes all other choices. "O Lord, the hope of Israel... the fountain of living waters" (Jer. 17:13). God is the ever living water that plants the tree of our lives. When we anchor ourselves in Him as by a river, then it will not matter when trials of heat come because His strength keeps us from despair. Our leaf will remain green. Through Him, we can continue to yield fruit. Why use a substitute when He is a living hope.

Happiness is . . .

Recently my cordless drill stopped working. Upon hearing this, a friend searched to see if he could find one like his. Not only did he find one but he found a closeout deal that was less than the drill cost originally. I got a four tool set. In the set is a drill, circular saw (6.5 in), light, hand vac, charger and 2 batteries. Each tool is component is cordless. It seems that Black and Decker is phasing out this line even though it was quite popular because of its features. I'm a rudimentary DIY kind of guy so I am always happy to get new tools.

Sugar Cookie

Behold, Joshua the Sugar Cookie. This was actually one of several events that occurred at the Connect Four Retreat that Michaela and I attended. I actually volunteered for this task, but was told what had to be done after I volunteered. My team created the sugar cookie by sprinkling water on me, dusting me with sugar, and wrapping me in an entire roll of plastic wrap. As you can see, I was pretty enthusiastic during the whole process. Oh well, I still had a good time.