Patience is not a virtue, it's a thorn in my flesh!

Patience is something that just does not come naturally for me. I, if fact, am horrible at it! I am realizing that more and more each day that our addition just sits there with no changes. As much as I am excited about our new addition, it may be bringing out the worst in me. This is hard for me to admit because it is one of those traits that I possess that I am not very proud of.

Another struggle that I am learning that I have is being unflexible. Okay I am not just learning that is an issue - it has always been an issue - it is just surfacing often during this construction phase. We were told that we could have stairs to basement in this one location, which in my mind was perfect placement, well then there was nothing under our chimney so they had to build a retaining wall - so now our stairs won't fit! A basement should probably have stairs so you don't have to walk all the way around the house. We still have no idea how this problem will be solved (I am assuming our contractor is hunting or something since I haven't seen him in two weeks.) Oh the joys of living in Central PA.

So now what? Good question! I am just trying to override my impatience and trying to be more flexible. It is kinda how life works at times, we are constantly thrown for a loop and we are asked to respond - how will you respond? Today I must choose to respond in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control.....sound familiar - I am going to start over now, asking God to help me to chose to react in a God reflecting way.

Check out this video

Poured Walls - Snyder Addition

This is the next step to our addition. As we speak the concrete is drying (or at least it is supposed to be drying despite the rain). I am happy to see that it is progressing, sad to say that we have to find a new place for our stairs, that will be an interesting process.

Check back soon for new pictures or videos of our progress. PS - A special shout out to Christianna - my faithful blog follower - if there is anyone else out there that likes to follow along - let me know - it will help me to be more motivated to write more regularly.

Fall Frenzy

I can't believe as I looked back that it has been over a month since i have last blogged - I do have a good excuse! Ministry! Taraja Ministries is flourishing! I am am speaking four out of the five weekends of October, all on different topics! I couldn't be more excited about what God is doing in this ministry. It is amazing to see what God can do when we are willing to be obedient!

For me obedience sometimes means trying all the wrong things before you find the right thing - which is not the best way to do things. If only I spent more time in prayer and was obedient from the start I wouldn't have to take so many side roads to get to my destination!

If you think of it - I would covet your prayer support this month for these events....Mirror Conference in Middleburg PA, October 15 &16th, Christian Endeavor College Work Camp, Oct. 21-24th, and Selinsgrove UMC Women's Retreat Oct. 29-31th.

Peggy's Cove

When we asked people where we needed to go while in Nova Scotia - everyone said - Peggy's Cove - everyone! Well we went and wow - what a majestic display of God's awesomeness! We were there for a few hours, watching as the tide came in and stayed through high tide.

The other really cool part is that I was really hoping while in Nova Scotia to hear bagpipes because of the Gaelic influence in the area...well as we pulled into the Peggy's Cove parking lot I heard pipes and much to my excitement - Bagpipes in front of Peggy's Cove! It was awesome - you could hear them in the background as we watched the waves! It was awesome. (There was also another whimsical woman playing her accordian and singing by the lighthouse, but she was .... let's just say whimsical!)

Check out some cool pictures of the day!

Canadian National Park - Kejimikujik

Today on our way across the Route 8 Scenic Drive through the middle of Nova Scotia we came to the Kejimikujik National Park. I still can't pronounce it - some of the locals call is Kedgee. It was much smaller than the Acadia National Park that we had been in earlier this week, but it was beautiful none the less. It was filled with streams and lakes, and beautiful scenic walkways. We spend a couple hours there and even enjoyed a picnic lunch.

The most interesting thing about the park was that the water was tea colored. Due to the water running over the rocks it turns it brown. I have attached a picture that explains it.

We also got to see a beautiful deer! So of course I took several pictures of that as well!

Ocean Hillside Bed & Breakfast

I picked a winner! That is what Joel said as we walked into our room at our bed and breakfast. We have a patio that overlooks the Bay of Fundy and a canopy bed, living room, and bathroom with a jacuzzi tub - which works great! While relaxing tonight I sampled a Blueberry Soda from Bar Harbor - it was like drinking a Blueberry Muffin - good stuff. Anyway - here are some pics of our lodging facility - please don't be jealous - it was cheaper than all of our hotel stays! I will let you know about breakfast tomorrow!

A few things I have noticed!

Number one - Canadian's must love Heinz ketchup as much as I do - check out the size of their ketchup packets. I took it next to a hotel card so you could see the size. They are amazing!!!

The second thing - is that most all the houses that I have seen in Maine and in Canada are made of Cedar siding - I wonder if there is a reason - maybe I should google it - or maybe you know the reason already and you just want to message it to me. Either way I still find it interesting.

And lastly - the signs here in Canada are funny! Do you really need a sign to tell you what to do with dog doo doo - isn't it obvious? I guess that we have obvious signs as well - I just found this one humorous!

Back Road Adventures

The quickest route from Bar Harbor to St. John New Brunswick was quite the secluded roadway. We took route 3 then 178 (I think) and then got on Route 9 to Canada. Along the way we had great conversation, much of the conversation included laughter about crazy things that we saw along the way. These sites were so funny to us that we actually stopped in the middle of the road, turned around and drove back just to take a picture. You may or may not find them funny, but just picture yourself driving and looking out your window to see these things.

These are the top four....

Seriously this is one of our favorites...there were no houses for miles, just a road with spruce trees on both sides, then this marsh area....with dead trees every where... there isn't even room to go "swimin" oh my! Seriously!

The second site was this mailbox. Joel found this hilarious! I found it even more funny when we looked at the road after the mailbox - again you must remember that there were no houses for miles.





The third sighting was an outhouse... in a field - with nothing around it - seriously nothing!














And our last sighting - a drilling truck...on a pole in someone's front yard... across the road there were four or five old tractors on poles. And I thought the pink flamingoes in our neighbor's yard were a bad lawn ornament!

















These were just a few of our favorites. Also last night upon arriving in St. John NB - we went to the Reversing Falls and had dinner overlooking this phenomanon where the water actually changes directions - while we were there the current was going in both directions creating whirlpools. Check out www.joelsnyder.net to read about that.

Acadia National Park

Majestic - that is the word that I would use to describe the sites that we saw yesterday. We decided to do an audio tour - it cost $12.95 and it was well worth it - if any of you are coming to Maine we would be happy to share it with you. It let us drive at our own pace and explore as we wished. It was an amazing day - it took us about 5 hours to go through the park. We took a couple little hikes and saw some amazing things that God created. I don't know how you can look at this park and not believe in a God that created this world! Wow - it was amazing. To get a slide show of our trip check out Joel's Blog www.joelsnyder.net It is a video slide show with music and everything. I will just include a couple of my favorite picks of the day. Also check later on facebook for all my pictures.

Vacation - 2010 Maine/Nova Scotia

We have arrived! I took us a bit longer than we anticipated...however, part of the reason is that I really wanted to take the Route 1 Coastal scenic route - at least for a little while.... the view of the ocean was well worth the added three to four hours of our trip. We finally got to Bar Harbor around 7:30 to find our hotel to be top notch! Our pool is on the Ocean - so cool! Can't wait to go for a swim tomorrow - and take a tour of Acadia National Park! Check back for more about our trip!

A tasty treat at Knoebels

Last Friday was WGRC day at Knoebels. It was a perfect day - a nice breeze, the rains held off, and we enjoyed countless hours of music to honor the Creator! During the day the girls that won the Get Real Talent Competition showed their skills, and boy were they awesome!!!

Well later in the day was my time in the spotlight or should I say moment of madness! Because of a little competition I had to get a pie in the face in front of hundreds of onlookers!

Check out the picture, especially if you weren't there to enjoy the fun!

Group Workcamp Variety Shows

Throughout the summer I was able to be a part of four different variety shows at workcamp - each one was drastically different, but utterly amazing! Check out this video of some dueling violins from Brighton TN workcamp.

Check out this other video of what happens when you don't have enough people sign up for the variety show at Scranton Workcamp

Lights out

These girls rock

Check out this sweet lights out video from my sweet crew this week.

MC - Suspect Reporter!

Camp is going well! From the camping standpoint - we seem nice and protected inside the walls of our school, but the outside world seems a little sketchy! I may in fact have a first as an MC. Sunday afternoons it is my job to welcome the campers by sitting at the end of the school by the road with a bright yellow welcome sign (as seen here) and as I was sitting there I was a little nervous I am going to be honest (we aren't in the best part of town) and I saw this guy who was hanging around and it seemed a little odd, but I wasn't going to leave my greeting post. He then left for a few minutes across a field came back and as I was greeting - he disappeared.... about 30 minutes later - the cops showed up at my post and asked me if I had seen a guy with a black hooded sweatshirt - I HAD!!!! Oh my - he just robbed the convient store about 150 yards from the school! And I was a witness - never in my life did I ever imagine such an experience at workcamp! We have also had some other fun times, which I won't mention at this time, but I would be happy to share the stories!

Rochester Workcamp - Work it like it's your job!

Having fun visiting the sites today - check out this cool video that our song leader Michael took while we were hanging out with our new friend Kevin.

Learning cool apps

This has been an apple iPhone filled day!

Brighton Workcamp - Day 2

So we made it through the terrible storms of yesterday and last night - the sun is peeking through the clouds and it looks as though tomorrow is going to be sunny! The down fall - it is supposed to be a heat index of 110 degrees - that is HOT!

We had a bit of fun this morning as we woke up to a power outage - but it did return just before I got to do Wakey Wakey for our workcamps - for those that don't know that is the fun intercom announcement and songs that I get to give each morning. I also include a fun fact about myself and one snapple fact as well as the weather! Fun times!

Yesterday we learned that the average person spends two years of their life on the phone! That is crazy!!!

Todays fact - Mosquitos have 47 teeth (but I think the ones here in Tennessee have at least 50)

You will have to wait and see the fact for the day will be tomorrow! Bring on the fun times!!!

My blogs may be scarce this week because we don't have internet at our school, however there i is a nice McDs about 10 minutes away that has free WiFi and some great greasy food - that is not a deli sandwich - fun times!

Another Week, Another Workcamp!

Jana is at it again!  This week she is emceeing her third Group Workcamp in four weeks.  In this latest installment, Jana flew to Memphis, TN, was picked up by a staff member and rode an hour or so to Brighton, TN.  Here is a little information from Group about this workcamp.  On Suday, Jana told me she didn't have internet at that time, so I will be updating the blog from texts, etc. that she sends my way.  Check back often to see what all they are up to. 

Group Workcamps In the News!

WBRE-TV did a news story about the Workcamp Jana is emceeing in Carbondale/Scranton! The reporter mistakenly called Group Workcamps "Camp works". But, it was nice to see a number of the campers being interviewed. Follow the link to see/watch the story.

http://pahomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=144455

Music Practice at Workcamp

Here are some of the music team practicing for the evening program. It has been a good week here in Scranton.