OCC Trip Highlights

So I must say that one of the highlights of this years trip to Charlotte would have to be the song that Brittany and Emmy wrote and performed for me. It was amazing. Take a few minutes and watch this - you will clearly be impressed! They are such fun kids!

Operation Christmas Child

So we are here in Charlotte North Carolina along with my kids and some adults - it has been a great trip so far - The kids have been awesome and I am so proud of how well they worked yesterday. The trip down was uneventful - but so good that we didn't have to drive. I love taking the bus - it saves so much energy, although - despite being excessively tired I could not sleep on the bus!!! I was like a child with ADD - I couldn't sit still!!! We got in around midnight and got to bed around 1am the first night. Last night my kids were all in their rooms by 10:30pm...where did these kids come from - they are so good!!! It must be their leader :)...anyway..there are some really cool videos of our trip on You Tube, but last time I tried that I got two copies, so until I get a little assistance from my friend Joel I will have to refer you to his blog to see the videos... to see his blog go to www.joelsnyder.net

So until I write again - check out his blog and his video - it is really cool!!

Good Friends! God's Blessings!

Well, I can honestly say that this is the best that I have felt in a few days, maybe a few weeks, maybe this whole month. I was graciously reminded today about God's goodness and faithfulness and his ability to provide, when hope is lost.

It seems as though his timing is impecable!!! (I don't really know how to spell that word but it sounded really good!) Anyway - I was having some financial burdens because of my medical condition and it was stressing me out - and killing my bank account, in fact today I went to get my mail and I was negative 200 - that is bad, but I knew that God would provide, especially since tomorrow if payday (thank goodness!) But much to my surprise I found an envelope on my dresser from my friends, with enough money to pay my taxes and several of my bills. WOW - God truly does answer our prayers! It is funny how he brings people into our lives for such a time as this! Last year at this time I had just met most of these people and over the past year have grown to love them like brothers and sisters.

I still can't believe it - I am so honored to call them my friends, I am humbled and thankful for God's provision in the midst of one of the biggest challenges of my life. God is good, even during the hard times!

Waiting!

I hate waiting.... I hate waiting for many things.... like for instance I hate waiting in line at the grocery store, I hate waiting for my food to cook, I hate waiting in lines at Christmas time (that won't be a problem since I am not buying any gifts this year) I just hate waiting period. The reason that I am writing this blog about my hatred for waiting is that I am currently waiting for test results. It just makes me crazy having to wait for them, especially since the tests were done on Friday, you would think that by Tuesday afternoon someone would have read them and they would have had the decency to call my doctor to let him know, so that my doctor could then call me and let me know, then I could stop waiting. Sigh, deep breath.... patience I know, I just need to be patient. And speaking of that don't ever pray that God would help you learn patience unless you are really serious about learning it, because he will put you in situations that will require a ton of it. Okay I am done ranting and raving for a little while, and I will sit back and wait some more in hopes that they will call me and let me know what is going on in my brain!!!!!

The cold hits Central PA

Much to my disdain I had to turn my heat on....not just in my room but the whole house! Ahhhhhh!!!!! And worse yet.... electric heat is supposed to go up 17% in January...for real...what is going on that makes the price of electricity go up that much - that is ridiculous!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!! Okay so I guess this is more of a venting session than it is a blog....but hey that is what I am thinking. At least it is free to blog so even if I have to freeze to death I can still blog, or better yet I could sleep in my office - it is much warmer here!

Harvest Festival

When I think about the crazy things that I do to make kids laugh I must now add this weekends Harvest Festival. For over an hour and a half I wore these ugly teeth and talked like a redneck... if it didn't make the kids laugh (which I think it did) it sure made the parents laugh. The event took a lot of work but it seemed to be a big success, we had games, food, worms in dirt, pies in faces (mine and braedon's) and lots of other fun stuff... not to mention the Virginia Reel - that was super fun also. I must say I was exhausted at the end of the night but it was well worth it!

320 Boxes Packed

So Midnight Madness was a great success - we had lots of kids and adults show up to prepare, shop, wrap, and put together 320 shoeboxes. It was a pretty amazing night and I am glad that all the hard work and preparation paid off. I have to admit that earlier in the day I was a bit nervous that no one would show up, but thanks be to God - I was wrong - we had a great turn out and everyone seemed to have a great time. A special thanks to all our volunteers from our church and from the local Kiwanas group - I could not do my job without you!!!

Technology is not my thing...

So if you look at the post before this one you will learn really quickly that I hate technology and it has taken too much of my time just to try to get the video posted and then for some reason I am so good at getting the video on that I decided two copies of the video would be better! Ughhhh!!! So I have about four other things to blog about but I should clean my desk instead!

New Orleans

One of my boys did this video about our New Orleans Mission Trip. It is really cool - you should check it out!

Midnight Madness

It is OCC Time again and with that brings our 5th annual or maybe it is the 6th annual (I am going to need to check on that) Midnight Madness. You may be wondering - what is midnight madness...well it is an All-Area Shoebox packing party. We wrap shoeboxes, go shopping, and pack close to 300 shoeboxes. It is open to all Youth and Families, so feel free to come and join us from 6pm to....who knows when maybe 10pm. There will be pizza and snacks served, so come on out and join us! Oh and for those of you who are wondering why it is called Midnight Madness, well it is because if I am not home and in bed by Midnight then I am mad the next day! Isn't that a great reason to name an event! Like I said before all are welcome to come, we would love to have you join us!