a summer project

This summer I was given the task of putting on my creativity cap to create, build, construct, and execute successfully several "giant" games for our Giant Health and Satefy Fair during the Caribou Cares About Kids Festival, held annually each year in town. My adventure also included the constructing of a giant movie screen from paint, sheets, staples and wood for a family movie night under the stars. I have no pictures of the movie night, but I will say the park was filled with many little ones, teenagers, parents, grandparents, etc. and everyone seemed to have a lovely time. Our summer efforts turned out to be a huge success. Below are few glimpses of the process of creating some of these games and the movie screen.

packing frenzy

Only 4 sleeps remain until I cross the border for another year of living in the wonderful land of Canada.

Today I've come to the following conclusions:
1) I dislike packing
2) I'm not much fonder of unpacking
3) No matter how many dates you go on with John Adams, his biography is still 700 pgs. long and takes forever to read.
4) Just as I'm getting acclamated to sleeping in my bed at home, I have to move to a new one.
5) The bite of fall is in the air.
6) Co-ed softball is officially over and with it, the bulk of summer.
7) I have far too many clothes to choose from including a mountain of t-shirts, some dating back to early grade school. (I've never figured out why they give little kids t-shirts they can wear until they're in college.I suppose it's kind've neat for the college student to look back and say "Hey I wore this in 5th grade." leaving out, of course, the fact that it was practically a nightgown or something.)
8) No matter how long your "remember to bring list" is, everytime you turn around, you find something you forgot to write conveniently next to something else you didn't even think about bringing until you saw it.
9) I'm thankful for people who are easy to work with.
10) Sisters are good for taking your mind off endless tasks you need to accomplish and helping you procrastinate for a time.

I'm quite excited to get back to school, however, the more I think about what I have to do before I leave - the more this scheduled time frame is making me kind of claustrophobic.

fear not My child

When talking to the Lord about some of my hearts desires, a hymn we used to sing at church when I was a little girl came to mind:

Fear not My child
I'm with you always
I know every thought
And every tear I see...
Fear not My child
I'm with you always
I know how to care for what belongs to Me!

I love how sometimes when we question life, circumstances, and paths, how the Lord, sometimes remaining silent, others speaking loud and clear - showers us with a Father's love. He lavishes us with sweet reminders of who He is and the power He alone has. He is faithful!

the missing ring

Upon graduating from the 8th grade my parents got my a very pretty ring with my birthstone. I treasured this ring and felt pretty when I wore it, the shining topaz shimmering in the sunshine of early summer. I did not own this ring for long until it went missing. Just after beginning highschool and relocating to a new home where we currenty reside, my ring went missing.

With a little sister in the house who loved to play dress up and who had - on occasion- been caught trying on this ring...all fingers pointed to her as the culpret of the missing ring.

Fast forward roughly 5 years - to today - Jessica was in our living room tonight trying on every pair of jean she owns, causing us all to burst into fits of laughter as some pairs were a little too snug, some too filled with holes, some cleverly decorated with safety pins and some in mint condition. As she picked up a random pair from the pile she reminded us that I'd given them to her a number of years ago. She flung them around in the air for a split second, just long enough for all of us to hear a " tink, clink, tink, think tink....tiiiiiink." Caught off guard by this noise and the knowledge that something had fallen from the pants we all said in unison, "What is that!?" All we heard was, " No way! OooohhhhH!"

After a few moments of gloating by Jessica, basking in her guiltlessness and following an apology on my part, she handed me a treasure I thought was forever lost - my ring.

It's amazing how my ring could have at any moment gone missing and I would never have known...poor Jessica, assumed as the culpret all these years and voila, one evening trying on jeans, the ring appears.

roots, rocks and a little perspective

Today we adventured on our last day of biking to the Nordiac Heritage Center in Presque Isle. As our bikes departed on the single-track trails, up and down the hills we went, slipping on roots, rocks, and every other weed and branch one could imagine present in the woods. Needless to say, I was slightly unamused.

As our promised descent from this place approached, I began to find myself rather frustrated thinking we were on our way down the mountain and wondering why exactly we were still climbing gigantically steep hills. Once again, I was unimpressed and an unimpressive attitude began to fester in my heart.

Mounting once again on my seat, I began to relentlessly pedal over rocks and roots galore...recognizing my frustration and poor attitude, I began to ask the Lord for strength and to change my attitude. Suddenly, I heard a voice - not likened unto a whisper nor a yell - it was an assertive, plainly sweet voice calling, "Look around Beloved."

Quickly, as though a switch had been turned on inside of me, I found myself smiling and instinctively taking in with my eyes the breathtaking view around me. As I forgot about the awful roots, rocks, and mud beneath me, this is what I began to see:





Though I strongly believe woody trails should be reserved strictly for jogging, strolling or hiking, I'm thankful for the opportunity to recognize mountain biking isn't my thing. I am a big fan of road biking, and biking to a destination. When I'm out trampsing among trails I feel lost without a purpose, consumed by the slippery roots, pesky bugs, and jagged rocks. I've learned much about pushing my physical limits this past week and today I learned once again to how much I need to bless the Lord at all times. Instead of thinking about myself I needed to change my perspective, to look beyond what my wheels tred upon and instead, to glance up, to recognize the beauty our great Lord has prepared for us and I was blessed to see today.


Here's to turning in my trail maps and retiring from my week in the woods...

inspirational training

Yesterday I went biking with a group of CRX kids (Caribou Rec. Xtreme- an outdoor summer program) to Fort Kent’s 10th Mountain training facility. Complete with much grass, hills, rocks, and roots, our atmosphere assured us we were surely in for a day of interesting riding.

Something I found particularly interesting was when we first arrived at the facility the place was bustling with various athletes diligently going about their training regimens. A red flag was raised to alert all visitors of the athletes training. I was amazed at their discipline clearly visible on the course. Quite literally these athletes eat, sleep, breathe, and train for the biathlon.

With this in mind, I have to wonder – shouldn’t we as Christians have a “similar” training regimen in our daily walk with the Lord? Shouldn’t we eat, sleep, breathe, and train with His purpose on our minds, His work as our workout, and His will as our drive and motivation?

I think our lives often get too crowded and overwhelmed with fillers that soon turn into excuses to stray from a training regimen. For anyone who exercises (or attempts to) on a regular basis, perhaps you can relate. How many times do we find ourselves saying we’re too tired or too busy to go for that run or take the dog for a walk? How often do we let the weather (humidity, rain, sunshine too little or too much) dictate when and where we go as we slowly begin to neglect our physical training? Are we getting enough sleep? Are we eating the right foods?

Considering our spiritual lives, how often do we plan to exercise our talents and giftings for the Lord and never get around to doing so? How often to we promise to pray for someone, leave a note of encouragement, or truly study the Word, and simply forget, or get too busy with life?

What would happen if the biathletes watched movies instead of shooting their rifles – or – ate potato chips instead of protein? What would happen if these athletes only ran when the weather was conducive to their absolute comfort? We all know their training would suffer and certainly their performance in the big competition would suffer as well. Their standings would certainly fall below their expectations and they would likely disappoint those who had invested much time and energy into their training through encouragement, sponsorship, etc.

I wonder what habits and comforts I’ve let mar my training regimen…physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually…and which of these things are holding me back from being all the Lord wants me to be at this moment for His glory.