Last night at youth group...

We watched this as a precursor to our Bible study.

HILARIOUS.

A Long Time Coming

I've been on my Church Council for well over a year that I need a 15-passenger van. We have a bus but, honestly, its a piece of crap. Ask anyone who's ever ridden (or driven) it. So, this morning, we got a call from Judy, my secretary, saying that I had not one but TWO presents in the parking lot!!

WE GOT TWO VANS!! 

aaaahhhhahahahahahahah!!! And just in time for a retreat this weekend that's 6 hours away and has a list of kiddos that keeps growing. We might just have to use BOTH vans... 

I. AM. HAPPY.

A La Hannahlysis

This Weekend Was:
I was in Houston for the Youth Ministry Symposium on the Spirituality of Adolescents. It was a lot of information (and numbers!) to take in and apply but I think that Lisa Kimball, John Oberdeck and Craig Oldenberg did an awesome job. Plus I got to reconnect with some college friends (Vanessa!) and some even older friends (Shawn!). If you take out the 6-hour-fuel-related delay on my way home, it was great... even though I did miss the hubs...
Where I Am:
In my office in Palmer staring out the window at all the dirty snow.
To-Do List:
(I'll just copy from my actual list) Confirmation Prep, YNBS Prep, Armor of God BS, Breakfast BS prep & reminder, Middle School Ice Skating Event, Homer Lock-In info to kids, AALYG meeting set-up, research CUNE visit dates, find email for new youth board folk, add THREE BOYS to Confirmation class, READ books for class and a partridge in a pear tree!
Procrastinating About:
Pretty much everything above AND reading my books for class (see below)
Book I’m Reading:
For fun: The Twilight Series (just started book four);
For class: Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Leadership in Something-or-another
Music Caught My Interest:
The new Darius Rucker songs are awesome. I can't believe Hootie & the Blowfish is now on country radio!
Next trip:
This weekend (Saturday thru Monday) to Homer, AK with the kiddos in one of my TWO new vans!
My Feelings On This Week:
I'm feeling a bit crazed at the moment. LOTS to do and only so much time to do it. Plus, grad school officially started today so that means I actually have to STOP reading the book I want to read to START reading the books I have to read in order to actually participate in class. Ugh.

It's about time!

I'm sitting here waiting for my brand-new-fabulous-laptop to download both iTunes (because Lloyd hasn't been updated in over a year!) and a Wimba classroom for the classes I will soon begin via Gonzaga University. So, I figured I'd use this time to make Hannah, and whomever else follows this blog, happy.

Christmas vacation was... nice. Long, but nice. Spending time with my family is always wonderful. Sure it has its stress points but it's almost always great. But add to that the approximately five-quadrillion people who also chose Disney as their Christmas destination. Yikes. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family now has not only an aversion to but also a fear of strollers. ::shudder:: Crazy stroller pushin' people... you'd like to think you can go anywhere you'd like with your triple-side-by-side stroller BUT if someone is...

• trying to pass you, you shouldn't weave to deter them;
  
• walking toward you, you shouldn't aim for their feet;
• walking behind you, you should not take up the whole friggin' walkway!

Ugh. Enough of that rant. Overall, Christmas was wonderful. We celebrated Jesus' birthday by listening to Steven Curtis Chapman read from Luke 2 during the "Processional of Lights" at Disney's EPCOT. Oh, and we also had birthday cake-- with LOTS of sprinkles! 

Gifts were wonderful. Fabulous sweaters, questionable jewelry, lots of movies, a pig (::squee::), a Dyson animal vacuum(!!!!) and this wonderful laptop from the hubs.

But now that Christmas is over and 2008 is gone, I'm getting ready for a VERY busy January. Here's what's coming up:

• 1/5: Orientation for the online Organizational Leadership Master's Degree program
• 1/8-11: Travel to Houston for the Youth Ministry Symposium 2008
• 1/17-19: Homer Lock-In with my kiddos, hopefully in a brand-new 15-passenger van. Oh, and I'm leading all of the Bible studies (one guess as to if I've started that yet...)
• 1/30-31: Youth Ministry Task Force meeting in Portland, Oregon.

And those are just the out-of-town things... mind you, I'm not complaining. Life is always a blessing no matter how busy. Now it's just a matter of getting through it all in -20 degree weather (with a slight break for Houston!)