The Chronicles of Melinda

Sunday was another exciting day at NHC.  Service was awesome - worship rocked - nuff said!  Club 56 was great!  Got a new 56′er coming next week.  After service Taira went with my friend Michelle and her kids to hang out (cuz she’s been dying to hang out with the little ones!)  I went to get hay and then Carrie made me tacos while we relaxed a little before I headed back.

Spiked - well…can’t say enough about Spiked!  Here are the highlights….
We have a new Spiked adult volunteer…maybe even two!
Saw quite a few new youth faces - keep invitin’ guys!!!
Adam ate a Curpin for a dollar - compliments of me!  He’ll be more careful when he says he’ll eat anything for a dollar….cuz I can find it.
Ringo entertained!
P.J. looks good in pink….even if LauraBeth doesn’t think so. I’ll leave the details here for Adam to blog about.  
So stay tuned to Adam’s blog…but remember that he is a short bus blogger so be patient!

After cleaning up P.J.’s pink mess whle forces tried to clean up P.J. we closed up shop and I headed to one of my friends.  She had a bad day so I brought a bottle of wine, pizza rolls for the kids and chips and dip for us.  We just hung out a bit….then headed home to feed up and hit the hay…oh wait - I fed the hay to the horses.  Hit the couch!  LOL!

Back to the regular routine now that spring break is over!  Taira’s bus came early today so we had to go meet her at the corner after she went down the road and came back.  That is convenient though.  If we’re not ready when she goes by all I gotta do is wave her on and then meet her on the corner when she swings back before turning on another road. I sure do miss that extra half hour of sleep though that I got last week when I didn’t have to get Taira ready for school.  

It’s cold and rainy.  No tennis today!  Bah humbug!

Oh - reeeeeeewwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddd…yesterday I got home and saddled up Good ol’ Six (the horse) and we headed out for a nice loop around local trails.  It was dark when we came in…but I had no worries.  Knew where I was going so it was all good.  But it was a nice peaceful ride just me, God and my hoss.  Gave me a chance to gather my thoughts (cuz right now they are all over the place).

Got home and got a couple of texts from some friends I haven’t seen in awhile that were headed to The Wooden Nickel in Hillsborough so decided to go join them.  Now if you’ve ever (or never) been to the Wooden Nickel - it’s this little hole in the wall pub/grill in the middle of downtown Hillsborough.  (Nowhere USA!)  They serve some of the best fried squash, garlic fries and burgers in town and of course your average selection of beer (not a beer fan) and “spirits”.  (No spirits for me last night…but I don’t need spirits to be happy if you know me they just about put me to sleep!)  But of all the places…for some reason half of Hillsborough was in the hole in the wall.  It was packed up in that piece with local frat boys.  It was warm, so we sat out at one of the sidewalk tables and watched Hillsborough go by while we caught up.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.  Got up this morning and attended a breakfast meeting at NHC.  If you missed it - don’t do it again.  Leah gave away CASTING CROWNS tickets for a door prize.  HOLLA!  Not to mention her breakfast casserole was DEEElicious along with the assortment of muffins, coffee, juice strawberries and grapes.  So next time Leah sends you an e-mail about a meeting…don’t take any chances on missing out….come. 

I stayed after and worked on one of the walls in the youth room.  It looks pretty awesome.   I made a mistake so like a tattoo artist, painted over the mistake.  Made a cross out of it….not sure I’m happy with it being the perfectionist I am…but the rest of the wall is pretty awesome if I do say so myself.  Of course most will say if I didn’t tell them they would’t know I didn’t mean for the cross to be there.  Gotta add onto it, but it’s still pretty awesome so come check it out. 

So here I am sittin’ at mom’s.  They are watchiing Firehouse Dog…been there seen that. So here I am on the PC. Gonna leave here in an hour to get home, let the dogs out and feed the critters and then Taira and I are gonna head over to a friend’s house we don’t see too often for dinner and just to hang out. 

Tomorrow - back to NHC.  Hope to see you there!

Today I made a discovery. I can’t say what the discovery is…but it really is something I thought I knew already, but hadn’t found the solid proof.  Now that I found out…I wish that I hadn’t.  Spent a good part of my ride to work in tears in a sea of emotions.  I can’t really do anything about it except pray.  That will include praying that God will take a dark cloud off of my heart about someone that is all encompassing.  God is the only one I can talk to about this…so please friends…don’t ask.   It’s sensitive.

ANYWAY…forgot all about that for awhile while I went to do a Career Day at one of our local elementary schools.  They are always so much fun.  And Ringo Dingo Diggety Dawg LOVES getting to go to school and getting all that attention.   The kids are great.  They make me feel like some sort of Super Hero.

Well - have a great weekend in the event that I don’t get back on here until Monday.  What’s in store?  Riding tonight…NHC meeting tomorrow…got to go get Taira….NHC Sunday.  Have a good weekend.

Well - it’s been a pretty quiet week.  Taira is gone to mom’s for her Spring Break and she and her little BFF have been hanging out.  So what am I doing while she is gone?

Monday- I came home and rode Ransom.  Took Rolo on his first official trail ride with Ringo along to show him the ropes.  Then I headed to my friend Lanie’s who lives RIGHT up the road and we had some wine and very yummy chicken breasts.  I made more scalloped potatoes…cuz I love ‘em!  I ended up falling asleep after we watched some Dancin’ with the Stars and since she lives like - 2 miles from the house I just stayed the night.  Up in the morning and headed to the house after she made e a cup off coffee.

Tuesday - had an AC Advisory Board meeting in the evening so I went to the Family Christian Store then met a friend at Ruby Tuesdays for salad before heading to the meeting.  Nothing exciting to report there.  Headed home, tended the animals and enjoyed watching my pack of dogs at play in the yard.  Let me tell you what…they are FUNNY. 

You got Ringo (The ACD with OCD) who’s main goal in life is for someone to throw the toy.  Then you have dainty little Neela who’s main goal in life is to attept to intercept the toy and run with it when she is successful and then engage is some fierce tug of war with Ringo over the toy.  (They really sound so fierce and put their backs into it.  It’s hilarious to watch).  Then there’s Stitch…the struttin’ his stuff little no nonsense dog who joins in the fun…but will stop just to roll around for the fun of it.  And of course, Rolo - the puppy who just wants to be in the middle of EVERYTHING.  One minute he’s trying to chase the toy…the next minute he’s trying to intercept the tug of war battle..the next minute he’s off in his own little world and you have to keep him out of trouble. 

So I let them play and watched them for awhile and then headed inside and lounged on the couch and read a book and was off to sleep.

Wednesday - hung out at work a little late and then went home and got a quick ride in on Ransom with Ringo to tag-a-long then….headed to Lanie’s again.  This time I brought Rolo along so he and Dallas could play.  So we had some yummy roasted chicken and kept our legs up on the couch while the Canine 500 went on around the couch as the two dogs ran around it wrestling and playing tag.  (Again, reiterating how fun dogs are just to watch when you get them in groups of two or more).

It’s Thursday!  Now what?  Well - gettin’ ready to head to the house, try to squeeze another ride in and then go meet my friend at The Nickel and head over to the Bayou for some relaxing to some music. 

I am, however TIRED!  We’ve been playing tennis at lunch.  Now it is FUN FUN FUN…but I didn’t realize what a workout I would get.  The first two days I was SORE.  Made me realize it was much more of a workout than I thought.  But now that the newness is off I just look forward to the hour and a half we play rotating courts.  I’m no Venus or Serena…but it’s still fun nonetheless.  What’s great is the County gives us an extra 30 minutes of administrative leave in addition to lunch just to be engaged in something fitness related.  It’s cool!

Anyway, better head home if I intend to try to ride and meet the girls.   

Oh yeah - remember the morning I woke up and the alarm wasn’t set.  Seems it very well may have been Taira who woke up and turned it off half sleepwalking! LOL!

My dear friend Carrie invited Taira and I over for Easter Dinner.  So after going to get some hay for the hosses we headed over to her house.  I whipped up mom’s scallopped potatotes and some devilled eggs and Carrie had a Honey Baked and a CARROT CAKE!  Her cool neighbors Jeff and Laura came over with some rolls and a yummy bean salad and we had a WONDERFUL and FILLING dinner together in honor of Christ’s Resurrection!

Jeff and Laura are adopting two BEAUTIFUL baby boys from Vietnam and shared the video with us.  Taira is looking forward to going over to help with the babies when they arrive! She loves some babies! When all was said and done, Carrie, Laura, Taira and I took the dogs for a 2 mile walk to try to make up for all we ate. (HA HA!)  Then Taira, Carrie and I sat down to watch an Easter showing of The Sound of Music after I told Carrie I have NEVER seen that movie before!!! 

Do you know there’s a new reality show?  America’s Prom Queen.  They’re taking all these prom queens, or shoulda been Prom Queens and they are competing to be America’s Prom Queen.  WHAT NEXT?

Anyway, got home late - like after midnight late - but it was a wonderful way to spend Easter!

Someone didn’t reset an alarm this morning - so Taira woke me up at 8:25AM.  Taira is on the way to my mom’s right now, they just picked her up.  It’s Spring Break for her.  Mommy break for me!  What’s a mommy to do?

Happy Easter!  Don’t let the rabbit ruin the resurrection!
We have leftover bookmarks of this poem from the Xalt Journey.  Let me know if you’d like to share this with someone!

The Journey to the Cross is a multisensory spiritual experience designed to bring you closer to Christ by interactively involving your mind and emotions to experience what Jesus went through right before he was crucified and ultimately…resurrected and ascended into Heaven.  It will appeal to your sense of sight, smell, hearing, touch and even taste.

If you have never experienced a Journey at NHC…let the Journey to the Cross be your first.  If you have…no two Journeys are the same and there is always something to add to your own Journey with Christ.   Join the Xalt team tomorrow night anytime between 6:00PM and 10:00PM and experience this for yourself.  It is really too hard to put into words.

Bring your friends, bring your family.  Children love being involved in the Journey, so include them.

In two nights I have seen some very overwhelming reactions to the Journey.  Many have come out with tears, many have acknowledged that it has put them closer to God.  If you need a spiritual boost….this is a great place to start.

I used to spend too much time worrying about silly little things.  There is so much more going on in the world that little things just don’t bother me.  I’ve learned the real order of priority of things in life.  Put GOD first…Family Second……and then there comes things like  love (if you have it)career, finances, friends, etc.  I hope my first paragraph doesn’t contradict the “order”….but that was something that HAD to be handled before going home to Taira, who will be asleep when I get home and I’ll see only briefly in the morning.  But she is forgiving.  She’ll understand I had a big case about a poor dog and I couldn’t come home until I handle it.  I guess I need to teach her that sometimes we have to do some things not just because its our “job”…but because it’s the right thing to do.  

But when it all comes down to it…GOD will put things in the right order as long as I go to him first.  And while it’s still a new concept for me…I know he will bring peace to the unpeaceful places in my life so long as I ask him to.  He’s already started working that way for me…I don’t worry nearly as much as I used to and I don’t stress nearly as hard as I used to stress.  Don’t worry…be Happy!

We left around lunchtime Wednesday and I had the most BORING, QUIET, “ARE WE THERE” yet ride with Leah and Cheryl.  (Okay - read between the lines.  The capital Letters and bold face are meant to indicate sarcasm that the ride was everything BUT that).   Come on now - all the women in one car…you know it was full of chitter!

After we checked in Wednesday we checked out their Wednesday night youth service.  W-O-W!  Their youth night averages 333 kids (again…keep in mind this is a church that is currently reaching 8000 people).  They rocked out to some awesome worship music that covered several genres and it was absolutely AWESOME to see all these kids up at the stage - hands in the air - worshipping Jesus!  This is what I want to see for our youth!  Let’s make it happen!  Bring a youth to NHC!!!!!!!

After watching for a bit we headed to dinner (I had shrimp of course) and then Leah, Eric and I set off to see 10,000 b.c.  by walking 2 miles to the movie theater.  Okay - more sarcasm…more like 2 minutes! Ha ha!  It was right across the parking lot.  I thought the movie was okay .  Though once again, another movie that was not what I expected.  I was lookin’ for more focus on prehistoric creatures…but it had a stoyrline!  

Anyway, the conference was all day Wednesday.  Well - when all was said and done…Leah and Cheryl got to witness me SPEECHLESS for a little of the trip home as I processed some of what I heard and saw.  The second session really blew me away. The UNLEASH conference was exciting and inspiring on all levels of ministry from leadership to volunteers!  I feel very fortunate to have attended and am thankful that God provided me the opportunity to have the experience. 

It was totally awesome and I’m excited to see how the attendance of the conference will affect NHC!

But I’d like to say this….

Respect your pastor.   This goes for everyone… I’m not just talking about my church and pastor.  Wherever you are…whatever church you are in …RESPECT your pastor! Yeah…yeah…. we all “respect” our pastor…  but I am talking about respecting the weight that your pastor carries by being in the ministry. 

Perry Noble led an awesome second session and the entire auditorium was filled with God!  I learned that we, as church attendees, have NO idea how heavy the weight of what they do really weighs on them. They take the stage or the pulpit for us every Sunday and we laugh and/or cry through their message and may not even give a second thought that our pastor does not live a life without worry or stress. 

We honestly have NO idea how much they may labor on preparation and prayer on preaching the right message to us.  We have NO idea how much they worry after their message that they said the right thing, gave the right message, reached the right people.  We have NO idea of the criticism our pastor may receive when they say something that touches the wrong nerve and the heat that they may take from some by “preaching on the edge”.  We have NO idea  how their spouse and family has to share them with the ministry and this can be stressful to their own households!    

Our pastors soemtimes bear a weight and burden that we may NEVER understand.  We have NO idea that sometimes, that weight can get so heavy that our pastor might even question GOD as to whether or not he should stay in the ministry!  We need to understand that our pastors are CALLED to the ministry and that it may be part of God’s plan…but they are TESTED every day ithey are in the ministry. 

So…my suggestion is this.  The next time you see your pastor  - tell him what a great job he’s doing.  Send him a card or an e-mail (uh oh - just might have flooded some pastors mailboxes!!!!).  You can help  to diminish any doubt that your pastor may have when he questions serving the purpose that God has called him to serve by sharing with how HE has helped strengthen your relationship with God!

In short…LOVE YOUR PASTOR!  He gives a lot to share God with you!
 

My favorite day of the year is the Day the clocks spring forward.  That’s right - the day that Daylight Savings Time begins.  Why is this?  Because at this point in the year - I begin to be able to enjoy being outdoors with my horses again and even have some riding time AFTER I get off of work and pick up Taira.  Life is good! 

Yep - the days get longer, it gets dark later and I end up coming in the house at say 9:00PM at night after spending horsey time and feeding up and forgetting how late it is.  So what I lose an hour of sleep.  Only takes a few days to get in tune with hit.  Life is good when daylight savings time begins.  My least favorite day of the year is when the clocks fall back - but we’ve got a long way to go…so let DST begin!

So that’s this Saturday/Sunday folks.  Don’t forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night before you go to bed so you aren’t late for church on Sunday! 

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• @Dougbug24 You know you missed it! 09:26:36 PM November 23, 2009 from web in reply to Dougbug24