Update

How awful that I haven't written since February!? It's not that I've had nothing to say. Truth be told, I have made an intentional attempt this year to TRY and break out of SOME of my rather "fixed" schedules, habits, and routines and there was a whole routine that went into me sitting a spell and "blogging"...thus, here I am at 8:29am on a Friday--probably never a time I've ever blogged before. 

An update on the past few months...

I re-joined our church's praise and worship team after a 10 year hiatus. Various reasons went into this, chief being that I needed to serve the Body of Christ! It has truly been a sacrifice of time, as we have a Thursday night rehearsal, a Saturday rehearsal and service, and then a Sunday rehearsal and 2 services. It's been humbling as well to be the "new kid", even though some of the folks with whom I'm singing have been on the team for 20+ years and there is a familiarity. My concentration has been mostly on not focusing on ME--what I sound like, what I look like, how I'm standing, etc. (hence, the "ugly singing" photo up top). I strive for excellence, yes--but this is not a performance. It is my worship to an audience of One that (hopefully) helps to ushering others to do the same before the message.

 January through April 13th I trained for my first (and last?) "race"--the April Fool's Half-Marathon. My only goals were to finish and not stop. I accomplished both AND beat my training time.

 Mark came up to watch me finish--I didn't want to make a big ta-do out of it so I didn't tell too many people and didn't want to set any expectations that I'd have 20+ people parked along the route cheering me on. I just ran, made up stories in my head, and kept patting myself on the back (literally) for the second half of the race as I passed each mile marker. My reward (besides the cool metal, bragging rights, and the 31.1 sticker my beloved got for the back of my car) was to bake the entire box of "No Sugar Added" brownie mix and enjoy it with low fat Cool Whip. It sounded like a good idea...it tore up my stomach though...

I had fun with the photographer along the route...yeah, I knew he was there taking pictures. 

 We had our first Sleep Out in Camden this year. Kudos to my partner, Mark, (pictured below), who helped bring close to 100 people together and raise over $135K to help our Camden site. I also managed to learn how to have decent hair by investing in a flat iron (I LOVE the look below!)

This year is Covenant House's 30th anniversary so I was asked to corral some alumni plus past and present staff for a video shoot. Pictured left to right=Leonard (one of the first managers with whom I worked), Erin (who came to us in 1998 and worked off and on with us for years--she and I shared many laughs and tears together), Quincey (was a day service youth when I started--he's in his 40's now!), me, Roz (my dear colleague since Day 1), Jen (an alum from early 2000's) and Frank (an outreach manager from the late 90's--actually, his official title now is Mayor Frank Gilliam=the mayor of Atlantic City!).  

Every gift is a blessing and I don't get to capture all gifts in photo...but I do when I can. Blessings abundant...

Our Night of Broadway Stars event in June brought back one of our alums from the late 90's also. I gave this young person a copy of Runaway Bunny when they were staying with us because they were always coming and going. When I interviewed them for the event to capture their story, they said they still had the book!

Then of course these 3 have kept my heart steady...

This one too. God bless Mark--we began a kitchen "renovation" in January that was aimed to be as cheap as possible but still look "fresh". Although our tastes differ a bit, Mark and I are good at projects. We spent weeks looking over tile, paint colors, sinks, etc. It's still a work in progress but looks SO much better and different than before. Yay us! (and it didn't cost an arm or a leg). He continues to make homemade bacon 4 times per year. I tolerate this process since it brings him joy and affirmation. 

In my last post I stated that the first 46 days of 2019 had me feeling "full". That has not changed. Other major themes so far this year have been in conjunction with scriptures I'm "mining" including "know" (that'll be the next Blog), obedience (such freedom in this!), and power. I was reviewing the last few months of my morning devotional notes and was reminded of this phrase: "There is to be the emptying of self if there is to be the filling of God". That pretty much has been my aim for the last few months=to try and get out of the way of the Holy Spirit working in my life, to get rid of "self" with it's awful humanness and partake of the Divine nature.

It's not been easy...for I am terribly flesh still and fleshly appetites will always war against my soul. My head still "explodes" with the news of possible, unexpected houseguests or "party" plans...I am still pre-occupied with weight/body/and my flabby 46 year old "tent"...I have an awful tendency towards self-righteousness and judgement against others...Praise God for armor and the promise of victory over these things, whether on this earth or in His Kingdom come. Amen and amen.