home

home.
tired.
sunburned.
5 homes built.
thankful.
sad.
joyful.
got my first ticket ever on the way home.
details and pictures coming soon.
zzzzzz....

adios

Allrighty friends, we're off! Tomorrow morning bright and early we head down to Tijuana, Mexico for 8 days. 110 people (high school and college students, leaders, construction peeps, cooks, nurses, staff, etc), 20 vehicles, 4 trailers, loads of luggage, sleeping bags, food, tools, tables, chairs and tons more.

God is going to do AWESOME things down there. I can't wait!

If you think of us while we're gone, here are some specific prayer requests we have:

* the last-minute odds and ends would get done
* safe travel there and back
* weather (no rain)
* health (no puking from bad water like 3 years ago...)
* unity and growing community within the group
* willing and helpful hearts and attitudes

I'll tell you guys all about the trip when we get back and I have slept for 4 days straight. =)

Have a great spring break and Happy Easter!!

concerts comin' up

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. How many of us when we were in elementary school got hunted down by people who wanted to pinch us for not wearing green and we vehemently stated that we had green on our underwear, but they couldn't see it? Yup, me too.

So, it's crunch time here at church because we leave for Mexico in 5 days! Ack! So the high school and college staff is running around like banshees trying to get all the last minute stuff done before the big trip. (oops, sorry....for those who are new to the blog, our high school and college groups are going to Tijuana, Mexico to build 5 homes during spring break. We have 110 people going. We leave on Saturday)

But I have some fun news in the midst of the craziness. There are some fun concerts/shows I have tickets for and I am looking forward to all of them.





1)Jimmy Eat World and Paramore. Yes, I am obsessed with Paramore and I think I have memorized every song on their "Riot" album. I found out they were going to be playing in early April nearby, so I immediately snagged some tickets. I only know a few Jimmy songs but I'm sure they will be great, too.

2) Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. How many of you have seen the movie Once? If you haven't please go to your nearest Blockbuster or get it from Netflix. It's an indie film (came out last year I think) about about an Irish street musician (guy) and a Czech immigrant (girl) who strike up a friendship based on their mutual love of music. The guy (Glen Hansard) and the girl (Marketa Irglova) just won an Oscar for Best Song "Falling Slowly". The two of them will be here at the end of April. The tickets for that concert were sold out in 10 minutes, but luckily we hit the internet pre-sale. I am so excited!

3) Eddie Izzard!! Holy cow! Do you guys (and gals) remember when I came back from my vacay to So. Cal in January and said how I watched a ton of Eddie Izzard (British actor and comedian) DVD's and laughed my head off? My BFF Elissa called me last week and said Eddie was going to be doing a show at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood in August and she got tickets for us!! I think I screamed into the phone. I immediately got online and bought my plane ticket. Stoked stoked stoked.

So there we go, friends. 3 amazing concerts/shows coming up in the next few months. Each one will be different from the previous but each one will be special in its own way.

Back to work for Mexico. Just wanted to share the fun news. =)

video blogs

This blog will probably take you 15 minutes to go through. So if you want to do it in chunks, that is totally cool.

My intern Jeff and I are trying something new. Because it is 2008 and technology has become so savvy, we decided to make a video blog for our college group's MySpace page. We make a video, talking about what is going on with the group that week, and post it up every Monday. Here was last week's.

** DISCLAIMER - I will be the first to admit it is a bad video. We were borrowing a friend's Macbook Pro laptop and for some reason it was not recording sound. We recorded 4 TIMES before we finally figured out the issue. But the last time, the battery was almost dead (and we couldn't find the cord to plug-in power). So the quality of the video is poor. It's super choppy and none of our words match what we're saying in the video (there's a delay, esp. toward the end). We lovingly describe our first video blog with words like "endearing", "first-try", "rusty" or "ghetto". Anyway, we got the final words out before the battery died completely on us. Here ya go:



Pirate Night was so much fun. It was last week. Everyone came dressed up and we had prizes for the best costumes. We had decorations, pirate music, temporary tattoos, pirate bandanas, swords and pistols, etc. We played games inside and outside and at the end, the students went on a treasure hunt (in teams) and the winners dug up a treasure chest with GOLD (reeses mini cups and rolo's) inside! Here are some pixs.












This week Jeff got hold of an actual video camera so after we filmed this week's vlog he could edit it, add music, and all sorts of other bells and whistles. This one's a bit longer...6 and a half minutes, I believe. Oh! And you get to hear what I sound like with my mouth guard in! =)

i have my mouth guard

Yup, so I've been clenching and grinding my teeth when I sleep for about the last year and a half. I don't know if it was from my car accident or just stress in general. But I went to see a TMJ specialist because I was having jaw problems, headaches, and my gums were receding. He fitted me for a "splint" or what most people call a mouth guard.

I got it last Wednesday and have been wearing it ever since. He wants me to wear it 24/7 for six months!!!!!! What!? Why not just at night when I sleep? He said it takes six months to train my jaw not to instinctively clench. I can only take it out to brush my teeth and floss, but then it goes back in.

He wanted me to eat with it in, too, but there is no way. I tried and it doesn't work. First of all, I can't chew. Second, it takes forever to eat a meal. And third it gets pretty gross when food gets in the splint. (Was that an overshare? Sorry.) So I take it out to eat and brush my teeth, but then it goes back in.

The first couple days were really hard. My teeth were so pissed at me. "We've been with you since you were 8! Don't we chew your food well? Haven't we been good to you? Why are you putting us through all this pain??" But now they are used to the big hunk o' plastic in my mouth. Which is good because I need their support for the next six months.

So if you see me and I look different (the splint makes my upper lip stick out a bit) or talk different (I still can't say my "s" words without whistling through my mouth guard), you know why. Here's hoping all this helps heal my jaw!

Oh say can you see

I know it's not Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the Superbowl, World Series, or the 4th of July, but I just love this video so much! I have never heard our national anthem sung so beautifully. These girls (between the ages of 8-13) sang at a Texas Tech vs. Texas basketball game on January 20, 2008 in front of over 11,000 people. It's a home video, so the camera's pretty shaky. But I hope you like it as much as I did. (I even got a little teary!)

"with my ragtop down so my hair can blow"

** the title of this blog is dedicated to Vanilla Ice. (too cold, too cold...) **

I have realized lately that I LOVE driving with my windows down. I can really only do it if it's nice outside. So imagine my joy this week because I have been able to drive everywhere with all four windows rolled down, music blastin', big sunglasses on, and hair going crazy! Ahhh!!! I love sunny days!! When I'm not basking in the warmth of the sun and grinning like an idiot, I am singing along with my music at the top of my lungs.

I feel so alive.

how would you respond?

We're doing a series on Jesus this spring. We were curious to know what the students wanted to learn about, so we passed out some paper and asked them: "List 3 questions you have about Jesus". When Jeff (our intern) and I got them back, we went through them all and were impressed/intimidated. Read through them and think about how you would respond.


* Why does Jesus never give a clear answer about who he is until the last days of his life? (he always answered indirectly)

* I want to look into Jesus being there before time.

* How can he be wholly man and wholly divine?

* If Jesus was on earth in present time, how different would he be today?

* When did he start having his abilities to heal?

* How did he know dying on the cross would save us?

* How could Jesus be human and not sin?

* Why hasn't Jesus come back a second time yet?

* Why does he seem so different than the Old Testament God?

* What were his struggles?

* What happens to people who never hear about Jesus?

* I know God is supposed to be perfect, but did he, in fact, have any flaws while on earth?

* What is the distinction between God and Jesus?

* What did Jesus do as a teenager?

* Jesus was the Word, but did he have to learn the word (just as it was customary for rabbis of that time to do)?

* How was he made?

* What did Jesus think about women in his time?

* How does Jesus speak to us today?


If you're like Jeff and I, you read some of these questions and then immediately (in your head) thought of easy, this-is-why, it's-so-simple type answers. But the truth is...the answers are not easy. In fact, they are the opposite of easy. I was pretty convicted. Stop thinking you know everything, Sarah. Tough questions like these deserve prayer, thought, time, and study...not quick Sunday School answers.

Anyway, back to the series. We could literally spend a teaching night on each question. But we have to narrow it down to 4. How do we choose?