i’ve known anna since she was in eighth grade so it is super weird that all my little, tiny, wide eyed eighth graders are college shopping right now. God is so good to lead her to iowa city, where i can kidnap her and make her hang out with me all the time.
i love this girl, and i can’t wait for fall 2012!
have you ever been so overwhelmed with life and work that you want to curl up in a ball and forget all your responsibilities and pretend like everything is going to get done anyway?
okay, well, have you ever actually curled up in ball and desperately tried to wish away everything you had to do? because that’s what happened to me this past weekend.
there is a lot going on in Veritas right now because God is trying to show us that He’s all “crazy awesome” and “has way bigger plans than we do.” [no blaspheming intended, i think God understands my sarcasm] seriously, we’ve had baptisms, sending 19 people to brazil in less than TWO WEEKS, 95 students going on our first ever spring retreat this weekend, an upcoming women’s retreat and more.
i admit that i’ve been waaaahayyyyy overwhelmed with it all. there has just been so much to do and so little time. last week felt completely nutso busy and yet i left on friday at 5pm with so much undone. i said to myself, “i’ll work on this at home, and then i’ll just go in and print everything.” and then…
then, i proceeded to FREAK OUT about everything that i still had to do and i handled it by curling up in a ball, watching insane amounts of tv and profusely asking bryan to not talk to me about anything i should or shouldn’t be doing. i did this until 8pm on Saturday, because i had thankfully watched every episode of “New Girl.” after that, i was out of things to distract me from everything i had to have done for sunday.
so, i slipped my laptop in my bag, and went to the church offices, at 8pm on a saturday night. what can i say? i work best under pressure. the following is a true account of my saturday night adrenaline-filled work hours, for your enjoyment [because i know you read this blog for my crazy]
7:56pm: arrive at offices, lock the door behind me
7:57pm: turn on hall lights, my office light, and copy room light
7:59pm: put dishes away, break a glass (shoot!), get a glass of water
8:02pm: open up the laptop, turn on local natives pandora station, dance a little, start working
8:34pm: find myself dancing as i cross things off my huge to-do list, i started with easy things like ordering a new address stamp and a paper folder
9:15pm: i’m reminded of the bubbles jenny tokheim left for us, and i blow some for fun. it makes me happy
11:47pm: clint comes into the offices to get some things for sunday morning, asks me if anyone got towels for the baptisms tomorrow, i add that to my to-do list
12:05am: i think i’m almost done, and then i remember 4 other things i should do
1:26am: i head to walmart so i won’t have to in the morning, oh wait, it already is the morning
1:47am: i check-out at walmart with 19 pocket journals, 2 handsoaps, 4 lanyards, and 4 luxury towels. i’m sure the check-out lady was judging my weird purchases, but on the positive side, the night shift employees are much nicer than the day-shift employees.
1:53am: arrive home, not tired at all, write some blogs, go to bed
the moral of the story is, i’m crazy, but everything is done. success.
this music video really gives life to this adoleo song, “waiting for you.”
watch it. you won’t regret it.
One Year Anniversary of Veritas Church from Veritas Church on Vimeo.
last weekend veritas church celebrated our official one year anniversary. 9/12/10 was our first church service in hotelvetro in downtown iowa city-it’s hard to believe it’s already been a whole year since then! it’s hard to hold back tear when i see all that God has done.
after the awesome service, we had a big picnic where well over 200 people came and ate. here are some pictures of the day.
well, after two months on staff, i’m on the website. and that’s pretty much all i wanted to say.
seriously, this brings me to almost-tears every time. martin, we love you! i’m so glad you moved to iowa city in faith-God is using you!
here’s a little sampling of the reason why bryan quit his job. it was worth it, i think. this picture is actually from a music video they recorded last weekend. [yes, my husband is in a music video, feel free to laugh], i’ll post the video when it’s finished also.
the cd will be available on august 23rd, 2011, let me know if you want one!
now that i’ve been an official employee of veritas church for a week, i thought i write a blog post about what it’s like. but, i’ve been reading (yes, reading! for the first time in months!) a book called stuff christians like by jonathan acuff and i like his version of what my job is like. you can just go read his blog post and that should be good.
what’s that you say? i shouldn’t be publicly announcing that i’m the most powerful person ever? my bosses might read this you say?
okay, here’s my take on things.
i work at a church, so naturally, everyone i work with is awesome. it’s a requirement of staff members. if i was required to turn in a resume to get this job, i would have put I AM AWESOME right at the top.
anyway, everyone is awesome, and by awesome i mean really gifted and talented at what they do. and they don’t necessarily do details, which is where i come in.
so far i’ve done a lot of researching, contacting and booking venues for the upcoming school year. i’ve learned a lot of new things about our church database, and i’ve been introducing myself to a lot of people i’ll be working with in the future.
being at church on sunday actually did feel like work. but in an awesome way (of course). i really enjoyed having a part in such a great service. it wasn’t all about me, it was about the people who came for the first time or for the 50th time. i was definitely okay with that.
i don’t think i’ve screwed anything up yet, so i’m hoping that trend continues. and i’m still trying to figure out how to write a funny support letter that will also be taken seriously. it’s a difficult balance.
all in all, I HAVE THE BEST JOB EVER.
i love this guy. obviously, i’m married. but i still love this brother. he absolutely made my day on sunday morning [story below]!
corey moved to iowa city from ames like many of us to plant the church. he actually lived with us for a few weeks before he could move into his apartment. he was an awesome guest in our house! we especially loved that he grilled out for us.
anyway, he has been one of the several super committed servants to wake up at 5am on sundays and start loading up our “portable church.” he’s always lifting something super heavy or something like that. corey is setting up, ushering, passing out programs, tearing down, pretty much every week. he’s there, he’s consistent, and my favorite thing about him is that he’s on the ball.
last sunday was our second week in the marriott and clint (i call him our producer) was out of town. needless to say, it was a little rough. corey calls me while i’m at work at the coffee shop and leaves me a message. he was wondering where the programs were so he could make sure they were folded and ready to go for church.
i can’t think of a single other person (volunteer, nonetheless) who would be so on top of everything that he would notice the programs were missing.
that’s how awesome this guy is! i am so thankful for him! i had already folded the programs and had them with me, so i called him and told him there was nothing to worry about. he was relieved.
i was telling bryan how awesome corey was and he responded with this golden nugget of truth: “there are some people, who have the same work ethic all the time. corey is like that. so even though corey is a volunteer, he takes it just as seriously as his job.”
truer words were never spoken.
so, thanks corey, for challenging bryan and i to be awesome like you. and thanks for all you do for veritas, we’re a blessed church!
alsberries 