Por El Día

The Fence

2010-07-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, I had the opportunity and privilege to bike the Green Bay Trail out on the North Shore for the 1st time. What a nice, smooth, flat trail! As I was driving home exhausted from the 20 miles of steady biking, God used an event to help illustrate some important truths...

We were on our way back, just turned our bikes around heading back through Highland Park. As we approached Highland Park High School, my brother Dan started to croon out a version of “Doe a deer” which I had never heard before. The lyrics were quite unique to say the least and I believe the origins of the song were circa “The Simpsons.” As I was trying to embrace the brilliance of the epic lyrics of the song, I didn’t realize my bike was headed for a narrow, yet deep groove in the pavement. My bike connected with the groove, I got stuck in it, and ended up falling to my left and into a fence...

Sometimes we ride along on our walk with Jesus on “auto-pilot.” When the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:14 “Stand” he truly was urging the church in Ephesus to stand guard and put on the whole armor of God. We may have received victory over a sin area in our life, but does that mean we can put ourselves on auto-pilot, not watching for the distractions around us and the deep, narrow, groove of temptation to fall back into sin on the path we are riding on. When we don’t stand we are more likely to fall into things, situations, that we shouldn’t be in. We get caught off guard sometimes, taken by surprise, because we are so use to just pedaling along without a care in the world. When really, we need to keep vigilant and keep our spiritual eyes open, knowing God’s Word and standing firm upon it.

As I looked back on falling into the fence, I thought of Jesus. Like he was catching me so I wouldn’t completely fall off of my bike and spill out onto the road. Do you know what I’m talking about? Has Jesus every been there for you when you were tempted, tried, ready to fall flat on your face? He is there experiencing it all with us and trying to help us get back on the right track, out of the groove we got ourselves into.

There is a song called “Jesus Be a Fence” by the popular gospel artist, Fred Hammond. “Jesus be a fence all around me everyday. Jesus I want you to protect me as I travel along the way. I know you can, I know you will, fight my battles if I just keep still. Lord be a fence all around me everyday.”

I didn’t escape the fall without a couple black and blue marks on my knees and right hand. I don’t always completely escape my fleshly desires and my sinful nature gets the best of me...this results in the black and blue marks of consequences for my actions. And those black and blue marks don’t go away right away! Sometimes it takes a long time to heal and every time you look at those marks, you are reminded of how you fell. We need to be reminded sometimes so we can learn and grow in our walk with Christ. Our God is so gracious and merciful! We can come to Him, black and blue, and in His humble kindness, He listens to a sinners heart and chooses to forgive them. He listens to our cries and comforts us, bringing us peace. He is love!

And so I looked again at the bruise today and thought, thank you God. Thank you for allowing me to experience the fall so that I could know how much you love me. This bruise will not last forever, but for now, it’s a sweet reminder of an Awesome God.

20 miles of faith-driven running

2008-11-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Prelude: Isaiah 43:7 says- "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." I was brought to tears about a week ago as I read this very verse in the context of the Beth Moore study, "Breaking Free." What does being created for God's glory mean? God's glory has 2 awesome truths. One is God wants to make Himself recognizable to us and number two, God wants to make Himself recognizable through us. Then I was hit with 1 Corinthians 10:31 "so whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." Seeing those two verses back to back had such an impact on me and the weight of God's truth was written deep within my soul as I prepared for the 20 mile run, the longest run of the Honolulu Marathon training.
Why: A lot of people have asked me why I'm doing this. Why am I running a marathon. Something I've never ever could fathom I could do. Is it for health? Not really. I'm a member of Lifetime Fitness and can get on an elliptical 5 times a week and take it easy on the joints or just train simply for a 5k. Why put my body through such immense amount of discipline and stress for an end result which could be achieved by simpler methods? Am I doing this just to say "I've run a marathon"? Nope. I think I've done enough crazy things...jumping out of a plane, interning with the Porter County Sheriff's department, tee peeing houses, etc. to just say that "I've done this."
Background: I'll have to retrace my steps from when I first got involved in running in order to fully explain the phenomenon that is taking place in my life. I started running back in 2004 with a small group of friends from Harvest Bible Chapel. My roommate at the time, Kim and a girl from our small group, Lisa and I had never ran any type of organized race in our lives. We decided to train together for our first 5k. Depending on how long you've known me, especially those from the college days and prior, you probably don't think of the word "athlete" and the name "Ramona" being in the same sentence unless you're talking about someone who is an athletic supporter. Unlike music, the arts, shopping, and gabbing, God has not gifted me in the athletic department. The closest thing to me being compared to an athlete would be through dancing and even that is probably questionable. I am very unable to venture into the land of running without any type of help.
God's help: I'm always blessed and humbled to have experienced some tough times in my life. God has prompted and lead me to do things I had no ability to do. 2 Cor 12: 9-10 "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." It is such an awesome thing to surrender your inabilities to God and let Him work through you to use you in a way you never thought you could be used. It's during these times I have the opportunity to clearly see God at work. There is no way I've been able to run even a block without God's strength and motivation. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who gives me strength."
Surrender: Goodness. I've had to give up my agenda in order to train for this. But bigger than that, is my pride and what I want out of this. I can be competitive. I want to perfect my technique. I want to be fast. I want to run this marathon in a certain time. I then realized that the time I need to invest in the training for the things I want out of this journey are not important and fall short of what I need in order to finish the race. I realized that I must be disciplined in spending time with God first before I head out to run. I can't expect to have enough fuel to go more than 2 blocks before I poop out if I haven't been fed a serving of God's word. It was definitely a struggle to let go of the days I would reach Lake Arlington and know that I had yet to have time with God prior to my arrival. And so, I traded the physical training for spiritual training first. 1 Timothy 4: 8 "train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." I trusted God that even if I missed a day of running, that He would be faithful to give me strength and endurance for the next run as long as I had committed myself to spending time with him first. Let me tell you, He has! The 20 miles came after 5 days of resting in the Lord.
Metaphor: My walk with the Lord is very similar to what I've experienced through my days of running. It requires training. It requires discipline. It requires surrender. It requires obedience. It requires humility. It requires patience. It requires trust. It requires faith. Hebrews 12: 1-2 "let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Why Part 2: I want God to be recognized through this. Soli Deo Gloria- to God alone be the glory! He deserves all the recognition for this. He should be awarded the medal.
Conclusion: The 20 mile run was amazing! Something I never experienced physically coupled with the most awesomest time of worship. I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me with SoHee and Stacey to run with, keeping each other encouraged through out the whole run. We sang worship songs the entire 2nd half of the run. With my hands lifted in the air, we ascribed to the Lord the glory and honor due to his name alone and sang the "Revelation Song." I was definitely on a runners high, praise God. Singing his promises and about his attributes helped me finish the run. I could sense his presence surround us so strongly. God is sooo good!
Thank you God, thank you!

The Chicago 1/2...Marathon or Monsoon?

2008-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is how yesterday’s Chicago ½ Marathon went…

It was raining like a banshee yesterday…no surprise. I was wondering if I was going to swim 13.1 miles instead! I should have borrowed Michelle Thomas's inflatable kayak:) There was a very steady flow of rain and it got stronger as the day continued…

I woke up to my cell phone alarm clock singing "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns and Roses at about 5am. Why 5am? That's a bit early and after going to an awesome Lilly Goodman/Jesus Adrian Romero concert the night before, I wanted to wake up, sing and play my guitar instead of run. Tired from intaking 4 hours of sleep, I rolled out of bed and began to get ready for the race. My fabulous spectator friends, Julie and Jeffery and I left en route to a Starbucks at 5:40am to meet up with runner Stacey and spectator Kenny. Unfortunately, we ran into a road closure at Dempster on the way but were able to get back on track through guidance from a GPS and detour signs. After meeting up with Kenny and Stacey at a Starbucks in Skokie, we decided to condense cars and all piled into Jeffery's truck like one, big, happy family. The Edens expressway was very clear, praise God, and we didn't run into any other road closures due to flooding. Now keep in mind while all this is happening, it continues to rain and rain and rain. We arrived in Chicago at about 6:30am near the exit ramp for the Science and Industry Museum.
After the car was sitting in a line waiting to get off the ramp for 5-10 mins, Stacey and I jumped out of the car and begin to walk a mile to the start line. Because we both drank loads of water, coffee, and I had one of the 5 hours of energy drinks...we needed to pee like banshees! It didn't help our situation that it was still raining. On the way to the start, we stopped at the closest group of port-o-potties and waited in a long line of about 10 people deep. I think at 7:15am we had just reached the front of the line. By about 7:20am we were back on our way towards the start line, walking when we finally heard the National Anthem begin to play….Eeek! Where is the start gate? Even though we were under pressure to find the start line, we still made sure to give props to God and say a prayer as we continued on our way. Eventually, we found the start "mob" and began walking to the back of the pack. At this time, we probably only got a 2 min stretch before we started. Not good:( We needed more stretch time! The start gun finally was shot and the mob of runners began to shuffle towards the start little by little. It took us 11 mins to cross the start! The rain continues...It was very encouraging to see familiar faces cheering us on after mile 2 like Julie, Jeffery, Kenny and then at mile 4, the one, the only, Cari Grobart. She even managed to take a little cell action phone pic! There were lots of spectators with cowbells….but not enough. We needed MORE cowbell! Bruce Dickinson said it best..."I have a fever and the only prescription for it was MORE cowbell!" For some reason, the cowbell became a very motivational thing to the Stacey and I. We even discussed next year's 1/2 marathon t-shirts to have a "cow" theme. We will give our artist in resident friends like Brad or Jody the opportunity to design the most cutting edge, performance enhanced, running dri-fit T-shirt this side of Lake Michigan has ever seen! Stacey's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets with the golden arches of McDonald's in sight. We almost stopped at the "run through" window:) Did you know that the rain is still pouring down from the heavens at this point:) It hasn't stopped. The first 5-6 miles were fast. We maybe even shot out some 10min splits (that’s fast for me). Delirium is starting to set in and I begin to think of songs about rain and attempt to sing a few..."I'm singing in the rain...don't rain on my parade!" And can you believe that there were still loads of photographers with their trash bagged cameras out snagging photos of our insanity! We made sure to give them our best running poses:) Then the blisters from the water logged shoes began to grow. The effects of not stretching were also starting to kick in. At mile 7, I noticed a soap bubble on my hand. Then I took a look at my black shirt. The laundry detergent wasn’t completely rinsed out of the shirt I was wearing! I guess you can say I was multi-tasking...taking bath and running at the same time:) At least I smelled nice:) Stacey is still hungry as was wondering why they don't add food stations to the race in addition to the water/Gatorade stations. Cheeseburgers at mile 4.3, pizza at 6.7...The rain starts getting even more intense...Past mile 8, we took a 1 min stretch break, same with after mile 9 and 10. Otherwise, we “ran” the whole thing. 3 hrs of fun! I was so happy to see the mile 12 sign, I almost passed out! Then when we turned the corner and saw the finish line, we started to "sprint." We definitely looked like champs for the cameras:) At this point, I was on a mission to get my participants medal and get the heck outta there! All Stacey wanted to do was eat and all I wanted to do was vomit. We lost our spectators so we decided to hang out at the lost persons tent until they found us. Luckily, we wrote Kenny's cell number on the back of our race bibs in the "in case of emergency" section. So after borrowing someones phone, we were able to locate Kenny and he was able to provide us with an umbrella lead us to the car. Stacey and I did not take any effort to avoid mud puddles or ankle deep water. Our bodies couldn't handle the abrupt change in direction like Kenny could. Soaked to the bone, pruned hands, and a soapy outfit we had to walk another mile to the car after race. Our total mileage yesterday was at least 15+miles!

Conclusion, can I blame it on the rain?...nope! It was easier to run the ½ marathon in the rain (Chicago 1/2 marathon) than 90 degrees of heat with hills (North Shore ½ marathon), but stretching is essential! Very sore today.

A HUGE praise to God for keeping us protected and providing the strength and endurance we needed to finish the race.

Major round of applause and thanks goes out to our spectators, Julie, Jeffery, and Kenny for waking up early on little to no sleep and standing out in the rain to support Stacey and I!

Big hug and thank you to Stacey for sticking with me the whole time and being an encouragement. Can't wait for the t-shirts and to initiate the new- 1/2 marathoners:)

Less than 13 weeks until I run 26.2 miles in Honolulu! December 14th, 2008

Reflections on the Racetrack

2008-09-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

"I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness."

Psalm 145: 1-6

Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the glory and honor for all that He has done this summer at the Arlingon Park Racetrack!

Today, as I was at Harvest Bible Chapel Elgin preparing my heart to begin the next season of ESL ministry, the presence of the Lord surrounded me as I worshiped his name and gave thanks to a fruitful summer of His ministry at the racetrack. God has really taken my heart captive with such a burden to care for those who lack the ability to communicate through English. I was sharing my testimony with the new ESL volunteers today, telling them how this was not something I ever planned I would be doing. But, God's word says in Psalm 37: 4 "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." This ministry was the Lord's desire for me and has through my obedience to his calling, also has become my desire.

This summer, the Lord specifically challenged me to grow in the area of prayer. I remember walking spending time on car rides on the way to work praying for students to grow in their knowledge of English and for seeds of the powerful message of the gospel to be planted deep with in their hearts. I remember asking the Lord for his protection for the children living on the racetrack. I remember asking God to grow the relationships between our volunteers and students and that the love of Christ would be so strongly expressed. God answers prayers! He answered those and so many more! He is the faithful One! God gave us all a blessing at graduation when he became so real to 5 students, 1 husband of a student, and 1 friend of a student who all prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!

Galatians 6:9 says "Do not grow weary in doing good for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
There was a harvest at the racetrack this summer!

Below are some of the testimonies from our volunteers. Please be encouraged dear servants of the Lord and when your feeling weary, call apon God for his strength. It will sustain you! His word will fuel you! There is plenty of work he has got us to do and he is faithful to equip us with what is needed to complete his tasks:)

June 6, 2008- Volunteer Testimony

"Last night God allowed Marisol and I have have a conversation about the Lord! I got to share my testimony with her and she asked me which "religion" I was. I told her I'm a follower of Jesus and she asked if I was evangelical. I told her yes, then she told me about how the evangelicals in Venezuela only wear skirts, no make-up and no jewelry. She was asking why they do that and I don't. I told her that although the Bible says not to let your beauty be found in those things, the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. So I told her that if I treasure make-up, jewelry, etc in my heart then I shouldn't wear them because they get in the way of my love for God, but if my heart is right before God and if Jesus is my treasure then what I wear on the outside doesn't change that, as long as it honors God. While I was sharing some of this with her I saw Yolanda behind her listening in. It was great to be able to share with her. Then at the end of our class we asked if anyone would pray and Marisol said she would. She was brought to tears while praying. Let's continue to lift her up to the King! Praise God!"

July 3, 2008- Volunteer Testimony

"Usually when it's prayer time, our group is pretty quiet and shy. One week , with some coaxing, Marisol volunteered to pray. She prayed with a sincere and tearful heart. We were all blessed. This past week, to our surprise, 3 of our students prayed.! It was so encouraging to hear their hearts and see the comfort they are beginning to have with one another in such a short time. God's presence is clearly at Arlington. It is such a delight to see the growth and watch Him work each week! Our students are eager to learn English but also , deep down inside, eager to talk about God! Tuesday nights leave my heart filled for the whole week! God is reminding me of the great JOY there is in putting aside myself and serving Him."

August 12, 2008- Volunteer Testimony

"Last week, we saw the return of a student, Raymundo, who we haven’t seen in a couple weeks. Praise God! And group 4 had no students at 7:15 on Tuesday so we started to pray, asking God to provide and then group 4 tutors called their students. God was faithful and 2 of their students came to class!"

August 29, 2008

Message to the Racetrack Tutors from me:)
"What a harvest we saw on the track this summer! I praise God for each one of you for your sharing the love of Christ with your students, for sacrificing your time, for devoting yourselves and remaining obedient to what God has called you to do. We witnessed 7 people (5 students, 1 husband, and 1 friend) commit their lives to Christ! We saw many students become comfortable with stepping out and taking risks to learn our complex language. We watched students smile, laugh, and heard their sincere prayer requests in which we fervently prayed for. Those students LOVE you! Goodness, I heard from probably ALL of them…see you next year! This isn't the end. God will continue to use you in a mighty way! Thank you Thank you Thank you! God has been sooo good to us! Let us proclaim his mighty works boldly and give glory and honor to Him today!"

September 5, 2008- Volunteer Testimony

"As I look back on these past few months, I can say with all sincerity that serving at the Race Track with Harvest was the highlight of my summer! Week after week, going to Arlington on Tuesday nights was one blessing after another! The students we had the privilege of working with were great! They had eager spirits, an enthusiastic desire to learn and even more, they were open to hearing God's Word. God had clearly gone before us and prepared their hearts. The students were very attentive, faithful in attendance and faithful in doing the homework. Each one being unique in their own way, brought something different to class. We laughed together, worked hard and even shared a few tears together. God helped me to put aside myself and rediscover the joy there is in serving others and especially serving others for the advancement of His Kingdom. Without a doubt the culmination of this wonderful experience came on Graduation Night! I was extremely impressed by the effort put out by Harvest Bible Chapel to make our students feel welcomed , loved and appreciated. They were honored and God was pleased. On that night when 7 people stood to make professions of faith, including 2 of my own, my heart was full and my joy was complete. To God be the Glory! "

Ramona's ThornhillFest 2008 Awards/Superlatives

2008-07-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

These are in no particular order. Hope you enjoy! I may continue to add to the list during the week or if anyone has any additions they would like me to consider, please let me know!

-Most excited newcomer to ThornhillFest: Marina Wang
-Best grilling: Greg Swanson
-Best Cubs outfit: Sophia Swanson and Josiah Gresziak
-Best version of Tom Akert: Eric Wang
-2nd Best version of of Tom Akert: Tom Akert
-Best version of the Umbrella song: Todd Ackland
-Most mellow attendee: Karen "mello yello" Featheringill
-Best pink hat: Lydia Revoredo
-Best attempt at impersonating Ramona: Tony Halaby
-Best Pee Wee Herman dance: Eric Wang
-Best new fragrance development: Minervino sisters
-Most likely to haul butt for perfect attendance: Dot Kee
-Best gift to the Thornhills: Mariam Ingersoll with bag of wrigley gum
-Most likely to be on the next Dancing with the Stars: John Dewane
-Most likely to run away from the mariachis: Stephanie Minervino
-Best negotiator: Christina Minervino
-Greedy award: The mosquitoes for taking a lot of our blood!
-Outreach award: Andrew and Eric for delivering food to various police departments
-Best impersonation of a Skeksi: Patrick Gagnon (see the movie the Dark Crystal)
-Most likely to date a gelfling: Patrick Gagnon (see the movie the Dark Crystal)
-Best food: Indian night
-Most likely to wear the new fragrance "Absolutely Ramona": Eric Wang
-Most likely to buy their husband a camera: Anne Panicker
-Best cabana boy: Jason Holvay
-Best dance with the mariachis: Cori Lee Bouska
-Best dressed: Anne Panicker and Pyary Sebastian
-Sweatiest award: sweaty dude from the Funkadesi band
-Best random connection: Patrick Gagnon and Funkadesi guitarist
-Most likely to do a ThornhillFest illustration: Jody Nilsen
-Best stayin' up late couple: Nick and Becky Erdmann
-Most likely not to steal Patrick's wallet: Joe Panicker
-Most missed at ThornhillFest: Nancy Kuo and Heather Kidd
-Lookin' good award: Julie Kresl
-Best competitive swing dance award: Todd Ackland and Julie Notariano
-Best game in the pool: Thornhill Ball
-Best runway walk: Todd Ackland
-Tightest ThornhillFest t-shirt award: Todd Ackland
-Best new food debuted ThornhillFest: Barbie pop-tarts
-Most likely to have small group at ThornhillFest: Jennine Barnett-Gibbons
-Most likely to talk about sororities at Valpo at ThornhillFest: Sue and Ramona
-Most likely to not see the sign and use the indoor bathroom: Brad Michalak
-Best formal attire: Jason AB's suit and Andrew's white tux
-Best delay in relocation: Charlie Bohm
-Most likely to leave something behind: Julie Notariano
-Best salsa dancer: Jeremy Frazier and Christina Minervino
-Best salsa/swing fusion dancer: Todd Ackland
-Most likely to regift their perfect attendance award: Tom Akert
-Most likely to be a future Thornhill: Mariam Ingersoll
-Heather Ahn award goes to...HEATHER AHN!

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 7

2008-07-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our last day of ThornhillFest 2008 will go down in ThornhillFest history as one of the best closing nights ever! I woke up at around 10am to finishing the Day 6 blog and to get ready for a reunion picnic of old Yammers (young adult ministry prior to 2007) before heading out to Barrington. I wasn't the first to arrive, but apparently, Julie Notariano arrived at 3pm and was there for 15 minutes. Did anyone recall seeing her? The things we do to get perfect attendance at ThornhillFest...Upon a very warm welcome from Thornhill family, Andrew and I quickly debriefed the list of recipients for the perfect attendance award. First time appearances were made by Jeremy Frazier, Christina Trina, and Lisa Wells. The food consisted of little Latin fusion finger food. The guacamole was very yummy. There were 3 different flavors of Jamba Juice for Fest guests to slurp on. Mariam presented a plethora of Wrigley gum to Andrew which was enthusiastically accepted. Tony and I talked about our marathon training schedules and how they had been affected by ThornhillFest. I plan on running the Honolulu Marathon in December, Lord willing. We discussed our training methods of which I rely on Hal Higdon for. Tony and Andrew had a little Russian chat time and we all found out that the Romanian language has more of an Italian sound. Al had been working on his croquet skills earlier. I think he may be able to school Julie and Nick if they show up. Marc and Katie returned with Lydia Revoredo who was sportin' a pretty pink hat. The Swanson's also returned with their sweet daughter Sophia. In 2007, we ended with a bang as Christina Minervino rushed to find us the perfect mariachi band. Ending still with a little Latin flair, Island Dreams played salsa and cha cha music with a little hint of the Caribbean. Love the sound of the steel drums! They played a nice little bossa nova version of the "Girl from Ipamena." After that song, the MEGA dance party began! First to hit the grass covered dance floor were Jeremy Frazier and I. Soon to follow were Christina Minervino, Julissa Torres, and Tony Halaby. And let's not forget about John Dewane! He is definitely our most improved dancer who picks up dance moves by relating it to martial arts. Whatever works! I once taught a 7 ft guy how to do the merengue and told him to think of it as if he was dribbling a basketball. It worked! Only at ThornhillFest would there be so many handsome, young men to dance with. Todd Ackland got into the swing of things by dancing with salsa/swing fusion moves with both Heather Ahn, Jody Nilsen, and Karen Featheringill. Love that Karen, she is hardcore. The band was only suppose to play until 10pm but their set was extended until 11pm! More first time appearances were made by the Gresziak's, Aaron Wardrip, Kim and Jamil Webster, Shaun Polk, John Hodel, Tara Brooks, Dan Blaufus, Amy Weiner, and Ziggy Ziegenbein. Stephanie Minervino and I gave one last tribute to "the captain." Brad introduced me to some cool peeps from Harvest Elgin and Josh Dresser is now my new Facebook friend. Josh's got a rockin' profile pic! Everyone's attention was on Andrew as he began to give out the very thoughtfull perfect attendance awards for Thornhillfest 2008. Some of those who made the list were Karen, Christina, Margie and Mariam. Is Mariam destined to be a future Thornhill? Then the double duty 2 year 14 day perfect attendance awards were given. Julie received some kind of money kit, Tom received a 3 piece collection of different Catholic saints, Patrick received James Earl Jones recites the bible on CD and I received the most awesomest thing only true Jedi knights would be jealous of...a lightsaber! This was soooo much better than the Oscars:) Jody brought some animal guests named Sasha and Harley. I gave a recap of the week to John and Shaun as best as I could and knew they were wondering what kept them from coming earlier that week. We were reminded that Karen likes to drink Mello Yello and in return, I serenaded her with the song of that same name. Pyary has begun to plan Sebastian Fest which will be a direct cousin of ThornhillFest. HEATHER AHN! There I said it. Have to mention her name at least once in the blog. HEATHER AHN! Ha, I said it again:) Tom Akert posed for a pic with his "saints" and hopefully we won't see him burying St. Joe anytime soon. Jason AB and Julie exchanged a memo and arrived to ThornhillFest in formal attire. Dot, who was at another NASCAR race, hauled it to ThornhillFest and made it by 11:59pm to collect on her perfect attendance award. Somehow, we didn't keep track of Eric's attendance. Buffalo Gove and Rolling Meadows High School were represented. Brad finally saw the sign for the bathroom. He is not 100% Japanese as some of you may have believed but, Eric Wang is definitely 100% MexicAsian. At nights end, there was a consipracy to throw Andrew in the pool, Patrick was "on fire" and a School of Rock hardcore performance was given. You know you're not hardcore, unless you live hardcore...ain't that right Andrew? As we were cleaning up, I was thinking about the detoxing I will be doing and the mileage I will be running to get back on track with marathon training. The last of the Fest attendees excited the Thornhill Barrington manor close to 3am. All that experienced ThornhillFest took away memories of a time they will never forget. Many of us came and reunited with old friends. Several of us were introduced and made new friends. Some of us received so many mosquito bites that next year we might consider wearing a Hazmat jumpsuit. Only a few stayed up way past midnight...daily. But no matter what your experience was, I'm sure it was an experience worth having. Thank you all for reading this blog! Your enthusiasm helped motivate me to write at the wee hours of the morning. I hope that I have captured this year's Fest in a way that you will remember always. To the amazing Thornhill family, I thank you immensely for your friendship which has been such a blessing to me over the past few years. I will continue to keep all of you in my prayers and hope that the Lord will continue to place opportunities for us to cherish in the future as we continue to walk in His ways.

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 6

2008-07-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Twas the second to the last day of ThornhillFest and what a night was! You know its a great party when the official end time was 3:30am! You'll have to excuse the Erdmann's, Jody, Patrick, me, and Andrew if we are a little "zombie-like" today from the lack of sleep. I arrived in Barrington at about 9:30pm following a trip to Joliet and the Chicagoland Speedway to watch a NASCAR race. On my way to Barrington, I dropped by Harvest Bible Chapel to scoop up my best friend, Mari and her sister Sofie and escorted them to the Fest. I was soooo excited that they came with because I had been talking about ThornhillFest since 2007 to them and I really wanted them to experience it this time around. I've known Mari since 2nd grade and her younger sister Sofie since kindergarten. We all grew up in Rolling "Ghettos" (Meadows) together. Upon our arrival, we were warmly welcomed by Andrew and the group sitting with the Panicker's. I hear that Anne is going to keep the Cannon Rebel on her list of future gifts for Joe. To our dismay, we didn't get to sample the wood fired pizza, but the pasta salad and mostacolli mixed with Greg Swanson style hot dogs and hamburgers made an excellent substitute. The pizza barely made it to the right location and was originally dropped off across the street. The Spares played a great set early on in the evening. Please keep lead singer, Jody, in your prayers as she left early to visit her dad who is not doing too well. We certainly appreciated her commitment in coming and want to support her and bless her and her family through prayer. There was swimming in the pool and the mosquitoes continued to feast. I just love being a blood donor! A couple guys from Ben and Jerry's ice cream came to serve up a delicious treat at the Fest and our favorite waiter/caterer was back, serving like a banshee. Does that guy get a ThornhillFest award? The on switch was flipped and the cotton candy machine began to mix up some delicious pink and blue candy cone creations. I was a little nervous when I saw surgery being performed on the machine. A first time visit to ThornhillFest 2008 was made by Brian, Rocio, and Andrew Coons. At about 11:45 I receive a call from Mariam and Margie who were walking up the driveway. Just moments later, Dot showed up after driving NASCAR style to get there! And why are they so ambitious to bust a move to make it to ThornhillFest before midnight? No, they are not turning into pumpkins. Something worse. Their perfect attendance score is on the line! Speaking of perfect attendance, Julie (who returned post 80s party), and I began to compile the perfect attendance list which had about 14 names on it! That's 10 more that last year! And 4 of those 14 will have had perfect attendance for 2 years in a row!!! Jody also came back to the Fest post attending the competing 80s party. Last year it was the Garman's who threw a competing party during the Fest. It's bound to happen again year after year until we start having our friends sign contracts not to throw other parties during ThornhillFest. Andrew brought out some lovely homemade ThornhillFest cupcakes for us to sample. Patrick acted out a scene from the movie "Expelled." At night's end, conversations were had about marriage, dating, and a revisit to snooping/booby trapping topic. We were having such a great time, I don't think we knew that it was so late! We are almost at the end of ThornhillFest so let's make sure that Saturday night goes out with a bang!

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 5

2008-07-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

The skies looked very threatening on Day 5. Even though Andrew updated the Fest website, I received a few phone calls from people wondering if ThornhillFest would be canceled if it was raining. Rain or shine, ThornhillFest is happening at its regularly scheduled time. That's one of the great things about it...it can be so unpredictable, so spontaneous and it calls us to be flexible and to adapt. I arrived at the Fest hoping that the shots of Starbucks espresso would kick in. The Swanson's returned with their beautiful daughter who was sportin' one of the brand new, special edition, highly anticipated ThornhillFest 2008 black t-shirts. The Texan BBQ was delicious and someone baked some nifty cowboy-like cookies. Will Eric Wang make us a trifle this year? Nick came back to the Fest and made sure to take part in the little powdered donuts...which are always a featured cuisine. I found out that Charlie Bohm was ditching his return to Arizona or at least just delaying it in order to attend ThornhillFest. We were made aware of a "compromise in safety" when we found out that a certain police officer we knew was just a little bit late to work earlier that day. Jesse Scinto and his posse were grabbing a quick eat before we brought all their gear from the porch and had them set up amongst the garbage cans and food spread. How urban! Despite the rain, thunder, and lighting, the show must go on and Jesse accompanied by 4 other fellas soon began to tear up the joint with their jazzy blues sound. They played several well know tunes such as, "hand jive" and "saw her standing there." Led Zeppelin and Elvis also made the set list. I guessed the song "Istanbul not Constantinople" (view video here) for the first of many CD give-aways. Everybody was having a great time! Sad for the people who didn't come directly following the message at One Thing. Those people missed out! Dot Kee however was one of the few who attended One Thing and rushed over to Barrington to hear the band. Great job Dot! After seeing Joe Panicker drool over the Cannon Rebel, I of course let him test out the camera. Anne, this may be a good birthday or Christmas present for Joe...hint hint. There were people doing the hand jive, swing dancing, and a Mexicasian doing the Pee Wee Herman dance during the song "Tequila." First time ThornhillFest 2008 appearances were made by Mike (dance with your women) Solecki, Maria Diaz, and Brad Michalak. Will they come back for more? There were several photo shoots this evening including, "see you at the pole," the 4 Italians and some female ninja/banditos. A hot, new, radio-active-like, fragrance was premiered..."Accidentally Ramona." Todd made a modeling comeback sportin' a youth large ThornhillFest shirt. He asked me why I haven't been wearing my signature Ramona hat lately. Those coming on Day 6 may get a glimpse of this fashion so have your cameras ready:) SoHee, Eric, and I impersonated Tom. Marshmallows were roasting on the grill in place of cotton candy. We were extremely excited when HEATHER AHN showed up, but wondered where Patrick went. Did he make a Day 5 appearance? Lots of speculation as to his whereabouts were made. Just before leaving the Fest, I received a phone call from Julie and was extremely delighted to find out that she left her black shoes! Will she leave us anything on day 6...?

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 4

2008-07-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a throwback to the old school days of ThornhillFest. Ah, the memories that were relived by those who have been attending the Fest year after year. Since I strategically took a day off of work (it's not easy writing blogs at 2am and going to work the next day...I'm not getting any younger!), I decided to head over to Barrington a little earlier to take a dip in the pool. I was joined by Jody who I brought with after bike riding with her on Chicago's lake front. What a simply gorgeous day! We immediately jumped in the pool and played a few games of "catch and release" aka "Thornhill ball" with the Thornhill family. As Julie joined us, a game of marco polo began and I decided to become a fish outta water. Upon my return to the water, a conversation was had on the topic of snooping and booby traps. This was a very old school moment. We listened to about a 30 minute version of the song "funky town" while floating around on those nifty pool noodles. Tanya and Nate Roth made their first ThornhillFest appearance. This was Nate's maiden voyage on the ThornhillFest ship and what a good day to start on. He immediately was schooled in the history of how the Fest began and we were reminded of the 4 Pillars of ThornhillFest as well as how the "concept" came about. Greg Swanson was grillin' like a banshee! I think...no wait a minute...I know I had the best burger ever to have been cooked on the grille de Thornhill! Sorry friends, but I had to take that burger...it was calling my name:) The bbq food represented the menu of years past and really the only type of food we would eat the entire week. We typically would need to do a detox at the end of the week and several of us remember considering the master cleanse. The "quest" bag of Doritos made an appearance and so far, we think it has a lime and ginger flavor. As I was leaving for small group, I remembered to give my camera to Jody and entrusted her with the duty of my ace reporter for the evening. I don't just give my Canon Digital Rebel XSI to anyone! While I was gone, Todd gave a great acoustic guitar/piano performance from the porch in old school ThornhillFest fashion. He was accompanied by the "one man band" saxophonist Russ Nardo on the eharmony tribute. Pictures of a smooch were documented. A banshee reference was made. To my disappointment, I missed out on his ridiculously amazing version of Rhianna's umbrella song. Apparently, Julie didn't even know it was coming! Did someone get video of her reaction so I can upload it to youtube? It is very old school for us to have a "theme song" for Julie. Upon my return to the Fest, I was delighted by sight of a big, blow-up projection screen on the porch and "the Princess Bride" playing with excellent pixel clarity and Dolby-like stereo sound. In the old school days, we would watch the movie while floating in the pool...and more than once, the movie would always be Ghostbusters (watch a Latvian band's cover of the song here). The cotton candy machine was out, but was napping. Nick was roasting marshmallows by candle light. Christina, Heather, and I talked about taking Latin dance lessons. Todd was singing old school worship music. And at about 11:30pm, most of the crowd left, with some of us making a dash for Lifetime Fitness for a midnight workout. I wonder if Julie left anything behind tonight...that would be very old school:)

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 3

2008-07-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

It's 2:13 am. I probably left ThornhillFest Day 3 a little after 1am. Hopefully my blog entry will be adequate at this early hour. This blog had 96 views on July 7th! A ThornhillFest blog record! At about 5pm, I had to do a double shot of Starbuck's espresso in a can in order to survive another late night. I was delayed in my arrival, but all for a good reason. I coordinate the English as a Second Language (ESL) program for Harvest Bible Chapel and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, we teach English to the migrant workers at the Arlington Heights Racetrack. As I was making copies of materials for the classes at the church, I ran into Lynda Nickels who said she may show up tonight. Dave Learned inquired about last night's Indian dancing and wanted to know who was dancing. Jeff Collazo heard me say that tonight was lounge music and he quickly changed his mind and came. SoHee and I traveled to Barrington post ministry responsibilities. We were warmly welcomed by Jody, Becky, and Nick who were just a few feet away from the amazing hors d'oeuvres and then welcomed again by the lantern lit, concert crowd, chillin' in the backyard. Lookin' good Julie Kresl who is the best choir buddy ever, made her first appearance to the Fest last night. I asked Miss Notariano to be a quasi ace reporter for the early part of the evening and to debrief me of the pre- 9 o' clock ThornhillFest moments. An opening game of croquet was played and Julie had noted that she won both games. The lounge act sang "it's cold outside," which was very opposite of the actual temperature. The mosquitoes were back....boo! There was swing dancing on the lawn, and Lydia Revoredo came back once again! She is the youngest attendee and with perfect attendance! Those Rev's are doing a stellar job in raising the little peanut:) And actually, there were several friends who have P.A. at this point! Julie, Andrew, Patrick, Karen and Marina decided to go for a late night swim. Andrew did a nice cannonball into the pool which got mostly everyone wet. As a result, I couldn't resist the alluring, pristine, inviting, salty, water, and decided to seize the opportunity myself and strolled back to my car to grab my swimsuit. On the way there, I heard Todd playing his guitar. While in the pool, we played a unique volleyball game in which I was smacked in the face by a volleyball...thank you Andrew! We attempted to make a whirlpool by running around the pool in a circle. It worked out okay, but we are really excited about trying it tomorrow with lots of people. I wonder if anyone was taking a tally of how many times I snorted while in the pool. Pool fun always makes me laugh:) The topics of late night discussion included types of modeling such as hand or eye, CBOT, throw -away guns, chocolate rain and other you tube hits. Jonathon Thornhill joined us and I think this was his first night staying up with the late night talkers. Todd gave us 2 of his best runway walks- will there be a fashion show at lunch? Then played a sample of an acoustic song by Rhianna. The "party til' ya drop" crowd was very excited as Julie managed to leave behind something finally! We've been waiting for the past 2 days for her to leave and forget something. Tonight, she left her pool clothes behind. Another "umbrella"hater was identified, the best cake in the world was shared and put in the garage, then put back in the house, and Fest food was delivered to a local hospital. I made sure to sample the lovely Barbie pop-tarts before leaving the Fest. Cari Grobart returned and we hoped she was going to party some mo'. A great night, but I'm definitely looking forward to kickin' this party old school tomorrow with a movie in the pool and BBQ. Will the cotton candy maker make a comeback...?

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 2

2008-07-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

If Monday was this good, what will we say of the other days of ThornhillFest 2008? WOW! If you missed Day 2 of ThornhillFest, I hate to say it, but you really missed out on one of the greatest nights in ThornhillFest history! Unfortunately, this blog will fall very short in being able to describe such an amazing night of reggae/Indian/Latin fusion sounds, bollywood style dancing, authentic Indian cuisine, and breath-taking Indian attire. During the day, I was constantly checking weather.com for hourly forecast updates as the atmosphere looked threatening. Of course Andrew had me beat by checking weather underground with on the minute updates. We completely lucked out and had no precipitation in view. As I was driving to the fest, I made sure to download the umbrella song by Rhianna, just in case we needed to remind Julie of it during the week. Actually, we've tested out a new song by Natasha Bedingfield, "Love Like This," on Julie...one that Patrick and I hear all the time at Lifetime Fitness. With only 4 notes to the whole song which constantly repeat over and over again, it was the perfect candidate to annoy Julie with this year. Joe Panicker was telling us about how he was up all night at HBC helping tear down the "stones of remembrance" fountain using a jackhammer. The evenings Indian theme was all executed by the planning skills of Pyary Sebastian...and it was her 25th b-day as well! Mariam also shares a b-day with Pyary. The authentic Indian cuisine came from India House and included traditional dishes like samosas, tandori chicken, chicken marsala, paneer, and naan bread. Heather Ahn was well pleased with the selections. Pyary came to the rescue to dress up her caucasin, latina, and asian friends in Indian fashions, helping us look a little more like brown sugar:) Stephanie Minervino gave me insight into what really happened at GreekFest while I complimented her "made in Greece" t-shirt. Apparently, Patrick knew the guitarist in this evenings band, Funkadesi. The guitarist played percussion at New Trier High School (where Patrick attended) for the modern/ballet dance classes. Who else might Patrick randomly run into at ThornhillFest 2008? Maybe one of the brothers Ponce? Funkadesi began to play and delight us with their extreme talents and fresh, fun sounds of an Indian/reggae combination. Lydia Revoredo came for her second night in a row protected by a mosquito net. Speaking of mosquitoes, Andrew's foggin' skills paid off as I noticed a serious decline in the mosquito blood drive. While the band took a short break, we learned some serious Bollywood dance steps and were blown away by the 3 person dance team, with their youngest member being only 13. Whoever thought "changing the lightbulb" could be so much fun! The dancing continued as Funkadesi played. Most of us probably made a dent in burning off the samosas we consumed. Pyary showed off some great dance moves which we all tried to imitate. We then sang happy birthday and presented Pyary with an extremely detailed and very delicious birthday cake. It took 4 hours to decorate and only organic ingredients were used. At this point, the dancers were all begging for a cool breeze to come through. It was definitely a hot night! Patrick's wallet was stolen by someone....but then returned. Contrary to Patrick's belief, Joe Panicker had nothing to do with it. As the evening began to wind down, we congregated under the tent talking about cow bells, Eric vs. Andrew in a shoot out, Boo yahs, the umbrella song, Pyary's hottness, flat tires, Christina's shooting range experience, etc. We heard Patrick's version of a Dark Crystal Skeksis as well as Patrick and Eric doing Ghostbusters and Ferris Bueller's Day Off lines. We were reminded that this was the 5th year of ThornhillFest and Andrew gave us a break down of the 4 pillars: It's free, it's a week long, entertainment and food are provided, it starts when Andrew wakes and ends when he goes to bed. The night ended with lots of rain and lightning, more beef jerky and Eric scooping up the rest of the birthday cake and placing it inside a shoebox. This was the latest I've stayed thus far...1am! It will be hard to top this night....

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 1

2008-07-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

It was the 6th day of July. The year 2008. The sun was shining, the temperature was a bit on the caliente (which means "hot" for all you gringos out there) side...all pointing to the perfect start of ThornhillFest 2008! Before arriving to the fest, I made sure to burn a couple hundred calories playing Ultimate Frisbee in hopes that it would help combat all the high caloric, authentic, yet oh so delicious consumption of Mexican cuisine. Thankfully, my roommate Dot decided to attend day one. I think she missed out completely on the festivities last year and could only live them out through reading this blog. With Dot closely following my Chevy Lumina up Barrington Rd, we arrived at the Fest a little after 5:30pm. Our first encounters were of Andrew, Jonathon, Mark, Karen, and Jason near the pool. We discussed this years' schedule of events and decided that Monday night, Indian night, would probably be one of the best. Soon we were joined by Jen Grabsky, Marina, Heather Ahn, Jennine, Trevor, and SoHee. The pool side party kept getting bigger. Jason was nicknamed "cabana boy" after offering to bring drinks to all the pool side ladies. With Andrew on the mic, an announcement about the food was made and the crowd started to congregate amongst the burritos, tacos, and sopes. This spread could put "Old Country Trough" or "Old Country Feedbag" out of business fo' sho'! All I gotta say is if you have an appetite, you betta' bring it! Several of us unashamedly, returned to the grazing area and had a second helping of out of proportion, calorie intake. Looking down at my cell phone, I realized that it was almost time for the mariachi band to start performing so I rushed out to my car to get my favorite Walmart, red, chair. As I walked through the gate, I ran into some of the mariachis and said "hola" to one of them. I think they were happy that I tried to speak some Spanish:) Los Palmeros were requested to make a comeback appearance at ThornhillFest because of how we loved hearing them the previous year. The song "mariachi loco" did get a little loco with the dancing at one point. There were some interesting "Elvis" like pelvic moves by our favorite soloist. Stephanie Minervino and I did not take another group picture with the band like we did last year. At the end of their performance, Cori Bouska made an announcement about Rich Chang's birthday and as a reward, she got to dance with one of them. We all sang him a happy birthday tune with the help of Los Palmeros and Leeanne presented Rich with a lovely chocolate cake. A huge round of applause is due to Christina Minervino for booking the band and the food and her excellent negotiation skillz. Lydia Revoredo made a first appearance at ThornhillFest and probably should receive an award for being the youngest attendee at the precious age of 8 weeks old! She is a cute little peanut:) The mosquitoes were out in full force looking for victims. They certainly drained a lot out of me! And now you know why I don't usually participate in blood drives. I give enough away to the mosquitoes each summer! Karen and I tried to escape the mosquitoes and headed towards the pool area. We were then joined by Mariam, Jason, and Margie. Mariam was bummed about not being able to be at the Fest on Monday due to prior birthday celebrating engagements. The evening drew to a close in a traditional fashion with me, Andrew, Tom, Patrick, and Eric, hanging out until midnight. Eric impressed us with his version of Tom Akert. And actually, Andrew and Eric are probably still hanging out as I'm writing this blog because they are delivering all the leftover food to police departments in two counties. Concept...perhaps we can bribe them to let quiet hours end not at 10pm, but get a 12am extension?

God at Work on the Racetrack

2008-06-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed that God has given me the opportunity to serve in the ESL ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel! Today, God took his soldiers and equipped them with the skills they needed to face his people on the Arlington Heights Racetrack. We arrived on a hot and humid evening at the heels of jagged rain clouds forming above our heads ready to serve the people God was going to bring us. Hoping to see swarms of interested ESL students, we only interviewed 8 with in the first hour. Ernesto, the racetrack chaplain, had made a couple announcements on the loud speaker to help us out and also mentioned that we may not see a lot because it was a race day. That's when the Lord prompted me to give one of our tutors, Julio, a special job:) I asked if Julio could begin walking around the dorm area and start mentioning the classes to whoever he would run into. The rest of us were doing the same thing, just a little more timidly since many of us could not speak Spanish. A couple walked past us and I asked while they were walking if they wanted to take ESL classes. They kept walking...but about 2 minutes later, they turned around and signed up for the classes!!! PRAISE GOD:) With in a half hour, we had 10 more interviews! We still didn't see as many sign up for the classes as we would have liked to see, but God certainly encouraged us by sending very enthusiastic students of which some were returning from a previous year! God has begun a great work at the racetrack and this summer is going to be simply awesome to see how God is going to challenge, use, and stretch us in our walk with Him. To Him alone be the glory!!!

Hot, Humid, Hilly, Highland Park Half

2008-06-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

Before I begin writing this blog, I need to give mega props to the big man upstairs, my Lord, my Savior, my Healer, my Comforter, my Redeemer, the Tres en Uno, Padre, Dios, el Unico, the Alpha and Omega, Creator, etc. Thanks be to God! If it wasn't for the Sovereign King who reigns on high and his grace and mercy and love, I wouldn't be able to type this right now!

At 8am this morning, SoHee, Marc, Nancy, and I started off on a journey through the lush, luxury surroundings of Highland Park as we paced ourselves through the North Shore 1/2 Marathon. Was it 13.1 miles of torture? Some miles were definitely harder than others:) For your reading pleasure, a recap of the 3 hours of cardio is to follow...

Marc, SoHee, and I managed to start together and kept up with each other for about 7 blocks. Then speedy Marc decided to continue his pace and Slow-Hee and Slow-Ro (new nicknames for me and SoHee) decided to remain at our slow but steady pace. At about mile 1.5 we encountered the first hill. Not bad. It was a gradual increase so all we had to do was push forward, keeping the same pace.

At about mile 3, we hit our first water station and then headed onto a nice non-asphalt, heavily shaded trail (parallel to the train tracks) until we reached mile 4. During our time on the trail, SoHee and I managed to speak out a couple of worship tunes to keep our minds off of the humidity and heat. The Lord provided several moments of relief as he directed some gusts of wind over our perspiring bodies.

During miles 4-8 we must have picked up 2 water bottles from every water station which was placed almost at every mile from 4 until the end. One bottle was used to shower and stay cool where as the other was carried and used as a thirst quencher. After drinking at least a gallon of water during the race, I was surprised that I didn't need to pee like a banshee! I guess that only means I was sweating like a banshee instead:) So far we had kept running with a quick stretch at mile 4. Then when we arrived at mile 8, we walked about a block before heading towards "the hill."

Since we are from the Midwest, we usually don't see many hills. And probably what we consider a "hill" is what someone in San Franciso would call "nothing." As we got to mile 8.6, a lady sitting on a lawn chair began cheering us on and telling us to enjoy the way down the hill. She chuckled when I asked her if the hill that we were going to be jogging down would be just as steep of a climb going up. She confirmed that it was going to be a doosey:) On the ground at the start of the decent was a spray painted happy face. The best part of the decent was the fact that we were staring at Lake Michigan the whole way down. Reaching the bottom of the hill with no problems, we saw the road curve to the left and then right when we turned, saw the smiley face with a big frown. For the next block, we were on a steep climb. Good thing it didn't last for too long:)

Several times during our run, we were called to pray for our fellow runners like Nancy and Marc. It felt really good to know that we were being prayed for as well and helped us keep strong. We were so happy to reach mile 10 and it only took one foot step past that mile marker to have gone as far as SoHee and I have ever ran in our lives. Our adventure was hardly over. We did manage to see something very typical of "front running" marathon athletes.

After passing mile 10, a volunteer on a bike who had been encouraging us for most of the race came by to tell us to keep our pace or the old man was going to pass us. We really didn't care who was going to pass us. I had some blisters developing, a weak right ankle, and SoHee was cramping up! I was running a little ahead of SoHee just past mile 11 when I noticed over my right shoulder that SoHee wasn't the one huffing and puffing near me. It was the old man! And as he passed me up, I looked at him and noticed he did not make a pit stop at the port-o-potty:( And being down-wind from him at this point in time wasn't a great strategy. Needless to say, SoHee and I dramatically decreased our pace and increased the distance between us and him.

At mile 12, we ran into an issue with the directional cones disappearing. At one point we had to choose whether to turn right or left down a street. I figured we would go left and for about 500ft, ran in the wrong direction until a car passed by and told us to turn around. My lungs immediately shut down, my face turned pale, and my rhythm was beginning to fall apart. I immediately called upon the mighty, mighty most high for an intervention. Greatly, he delivered and got me through the last mile. I couldn't believe that I even took the 50 yard dash at then end like a 50 yard dash.

Praise God for his presence during this race! It was definitely bearable, knowing that God's strength was sustaining us and fueling us to endure it to the very end:)

Halfway There!

2008-06-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Lord willing, this Sunday, June 8th at 8am...SoHee and I will be running our first 1/2 Marathon! It feels like only yesterday when I could only run 2 miles! Shoot, I still can't "run" this thing really:) My "run" is like a "walk" for most people:) I'm hoping that we can put in an even pace of 12min splits. This would be a HUGE improvement over my 2008 Soldier Field 10 mile time...which I completely botched this year. I finished under 2 hours in 2007 and this year I went a little over. A blister snuck up on me at mile 5 on my left pinky toe which really started to bother me. Instead of sucking it up like a big girl, I gave in and walked more than one time. I didn't get a PR but, God definitely taught me a few lessons on that day. Lessons about pride, lessons about trust, lessons about faith...it's amazing what God will reveal to you in a couple hours of running:) To Him alone be the glory for giving me the ability, the health, and the time, to do this! Who needs an iPod when you're tuning into God's strength:)

Hello Honolulu!

2008-02-24T22:49:00.000-08:00

The spirit of a first time marathon is born with in the young hearts of SoHee Kim and I. As we look ahead to the future, our eyes have locked on the goal of running the landscape of an island known for its paradise-like surroundings. We begin our discipline tomorrow in hopes that our training and efforts will not be in vain.

Honolulu December 14, 2008

This time its for real. We are serious. And our athletic abilities will be put to the test like never before. We will finish the race we begin, even if we have to crawl to the finish line!

Reflections on '07

2008-01-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

What is the most common comment anyone will hear at any New Year's Eve celebration? HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! This is true, but there is another phrase that gets tossed around before gladly and eagerly welcoming the start of a brand new-squeaky clean year. How many times have you heard someone say "man, thank God this year is over" or "2007 sucked" or "2008 will be better." So 2007 wasn't all you hoped and dreamed it to be. You didn't get the job, you didn't get asked out by the one guy, you got rejected by a really nice girl, you gained 5 pounds, you had to see the chiropractor, your car got hit...etc.

Well let me start off by congratulating you first because if you are reading this blog, you must have at least survived 2007 in someway and have at least one eyeball in tact and your mind still able to process words! As much as 2007 may have not been your favorite year in hindsight, maybe it wasn't meant to be a great year. But maybe it was? What do we consider as "great?" How do we measure "great?" Is it by the income we receive? The dating relationship we're in? The car we drive? How do we measure a great year?

When I looked back at 2007, I tried to remember where I was in 2006 and where God has taken me at the end of 2007. Let me tell you boldly that it was definitely a GREAT year! And what made it great? I won't lie and say that seeing Cirque Du Solei and a Cubs game didn't help at all... But that really didn't make it a great year. The trials and lessons that brought my relationship with God to a new level is what made it an AWESOME year! So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I challenge you to take an honest look back at 2007 and examine the trials you experienced. It is important for us to ask God why He has us go through trials when He does while we are going through them. It is such a great thing to have our Almighty Creator reveal those things to you.... How convicting! How humbling!
Let's take a look at God's word in conjunction with our trials...

1Peter1:6-7 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I like the phrase "if necessary." God doesn't want to put us through anything if it's not necessary. And why is it necessary? How better can we share a faith that is so genuine to others both Christian and non if it is not tested by fire? Fire is very revealing as it eats away what is perishable, melting it to expose what is truly in our hearts.

1Peter4:12-13 "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."

The phrase "do not be surprised" leads me to believe that if I experienced some rough stuff in 2007, why should I expect 2008 to usher anything differently? I shouldn't be surprised that God is using a circumstance to teach me some priceless lesson which will help equip me for his plans for me. It's hard to rejoice when you are going through tough stuff. I don't think God expects us to be doing cartwheels and partying. Rejoicing in the one most important thing that God has given us during those times will help change our attitude to be hopeful. It will shift the focus for us to seek His wisdom and strength in those situations as we keep our eyes set upon rejoicing that Christ has died in our place so we can truly live.

James1:2-3 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

There's that "joy" word again. But look at the goodies that a trial will produce! It tests our faith and produces steadfastness:) It produces devotion and dedication! I'm all for things that are going to bring me closer to the Lord!

So 2007 was a great year because God taught me so many things! And they were revealed by going through a trial! We'll have to save the details on what I learned for in-person conversations or another blog:) Praise God for His steadfast love which endures forever! Praise God for 2007, can't wait to learn more in 2008!

2 Date or Not 2 Date...is that the real question?

2007-11-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I was having dinner with a couple of my good friends/small group leader colleagues at the Olive Garden. Apon this meeting, I inquired of one of the leaders, how their small group was going. He concluded that this evening would be their first official fall meeting after the summer schedule. After revealing this information, I continued to inquire, “How did the Joshua Harris study go? Did you guys finish the book?” It was great to hear that his small group had such great evenings of discussion based upon the book, “Boy Meets Girl.” I think the book is not bad at all really from what I remember of it. And I’m sure JH’s first book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” wasn’t extremely horrible either. Maybe it was the title that really concerned people and brought some very interesting thought patterns to the Christian dating world.

I think the main thing that Harris is trying to get across in his writing is that Christ needs to be the foundation for any relationship you have with anyone. And actually, I think it goes further than that. Is Christ at the center of your own life? If He isn’t, then how do you think you would be able to go off and start dating? Is that fair to the person you could potentially down the line consider for marriage? Are you being fair to yourself or even wise if our Sovereign God is not the one steering your ship and leading you in your decision making? I think when it comes to dating the only thing we need to think about is God. Let’s not spend the focus of our days on worrying about being single all of our lives. We should be delighting in God and what He has for us now, rejoicing in what He has for our futures to come. If He is our firm foundation, our focus will be on Him.

When we are trusting in Him and relying on Him to make wise decisions, dating will be the most natural step to take with someone who is of the appropriate character. So I urge you to take God into consideration when it comes to dating and ask yourself these questions before you jump on the “single’s pity-party” bandwagon or the “gunshot” romance cruise ship. How is your relationship with the Lord? Are you constantly seeking after Him? Are you delighting in His word and meditating on it? Have you been asking the Lord to reveal any areas of your life currently that would cause strife if involved in a dating relationship or marriage? Have you been seeking God’s word to meditate on and develop your biblical role as a man or woman?
If you are having problems concentrating on God vs. concentrating on a someone you like, BOLDLY ask the Lord to take that person away from you in a way that would not cause you to stumble or distract you from something that you are creating in your mind.

I think we can only truly be content in our singleness if we are content with the Lord. If we can’t be content with the Lord, won’t it be equally hard to be content in dating, in marriage, in anything?

Mending Mobile

2007-08-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

My co-worker and longtime friend, Kim McCoy, and I are heading for a trip down South to work with Habitat for Humanity on a housing project. I will be blogging temoporarily on a special blog dedicated to this trip. Please visit it at www.mendingmobile.blogspot.com

Ultimate Victory!

2007-07-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

I've been playing Ultimate Frisbee for the past couple of months. Continuing to work hard at my technique, I've pretty much reached a plateau...until...today. Oh yes! I caught a frisbee in the end zone! And it wasn't even intended for me to catch:) I even jumped in the air to reach out for it. Of course when I caught it I almost cried and instead, droped to the ground and rolled around throwing the frisbee up in the air. Quite a celebration for those who were able to witness it. I'm finally moving up in the world!

A Not so Venetian Night

2007-07-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

The day started out pretty cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. I met up with Lisa Lewis for breakfast at 8:30am at Eggclectic and had a tasty Mediterranean omlet. I haven't seen Lisa in a long time since she got married to Mr. Peter Lewis, one of my homies from the old small group. Actually, both Lisa and Peter were in my first HBC small group. It was nice to catch up with her and share stories and updates about what is going on in our lives. Her and Peter are doing well out in Elgin, but are thinking about moving into a single family home in the future. Following breakfast, I did a bunch of errands and made it over to Lake Arlington to go for a very hot and sweaty run. The sky was starting to turn and the clouds had disappeared. Jody and I hopped into the "squad car" aka the Lumina and voyaged to Alex Nuekomm's condo off of Sheridan to hangout and eat before Venetian Nights. I attempted to parallel park the squad car and Jody just laughed at me. I guess I need some training:) When we arrived at Alex's, there were several people there whom we didn't know...and actually I found out from Alex later on that he didn't really know 75% of the people there as well. One of his friends from YAM, Sara, brought a bunch of her out of town guests over. Nice people from Ohio and Georgia. As 8pm started approaching very quickly, Alex, Jody, and I jumped into a taxi and headed down to Buckingham fountain to meet up with the rest of the Yammers at Venetian Night. The taxi ride was probably the most expensive ride I've taken in a long time! But at least we got to our destination quickly and without delay. A few moments after we arrived, Josh Chen radioed in to Alex and told us where everyone was at...Balbo and LSD just a little north of Balbo on the lake side. Josh or someone he was with, picked an excellent spot. You could see everything pretty well. Jody and I are trying to figure out why thy called it Venetian Night. There was a really lame boat parade. Boats were lit up and decorated with an all things Chicago theme. You had a boat representing each sports team, a blues brothers boat, a Marshall Fields boat, and a boat with a bunch of cows? They were singing "who let the cows out...moo..moo..moo..moo." When you think Venetian I think Venice and Italy and lots of decorations and vendors and dancing and music...kinda like an upscale trendy carnival or festival. Not a lame boat parade. The Chicago Cubs boat almost tipped over and capsized at one point as the wind blew the scoreboard, which doubled as the boat's sail. Well at least the fireworks picked up the slack where the boats lacked. The fireworks were AMAZING and so unique. Unfortunately, the only thing to complain about there was the lame XRT music it was choreographed to. Other than that, we couldn't complain much. At the end of the evening, we wrapped Alex up in his blanket like a burrito and attempted to drag him down to the lake. He's pretty heavy for a small guy:) I guess you've got to have some weight to be able to run 18 miles in a couple hours. As soon as the fireworks were over, we hopped on another expensive taxi ride and headed home. A not so Venetian Night but a good one none the less.

Baila conmigo!

2007-07-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

Rushed down to Summer Dance today to work on some photography and to hopefully work on some dance moves. Took the blue line in and got off at LaSalle. Tonight's live music was Salsa, Merengue, and Latin Jazz...quite a fabulous combo! It was a gorgeous evening and it would have been even better if I would have gotten asked to dance within the first hour. After the band took a break, finally, a nice short older gentleman by the name of Alverado asked me to dance. Sweet guy. He named every nationality I wasn't before I revealed my true heritage. He actually thought I was Colombiana! That was his first guess. And then he ran off every other Hispanic country. What an honor! I truly am an "honorary" latina! Al and I danced to some merengue and he asked me what clubs I go to. Didn't really have a whole lot to tell him about there:) After that about 2 songs later, a nice, larger, younger gentleman asked me to dance salsa. I think my feet were tired from standing most of the night as I wasn't as graceful as I normally am. Poor guy. He was dancing with Ramona 2-left feet. Finally, I got the honor to dance with an african american civil engineer named Teddie? I think that's what he said. He danced the last dance with me which was salsa but he was doing merengue to it. That sucked. It was like I was going against my instinct or something. My hips kept trying to move naturally to the rhythm and I kept having to tell them to do something else. When we finished, he asked if I wanted to grab lunch sometime. I smiled and said, "Naw" and walked off into the crowd. I think I snagged a few good pics this evening. My commute back to the burbs was a lot better than last week as I didn't have to transfer to a bus at all! Yay Chicago CTA! The ride home was pleasant, spent listening to the iPod and songs like "Dimelo" and "A Dios le pido." Next time, I need to bring some muchachos(boys) with me. Ones that will dance with me so I don't waste too much time standing around. Necesito mas practica! Dancing with the stars or bust!

A Day Off?

2007-07-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today I took the day off. However, it didn't really feel like it. I began the day with a trip to Walmart's Vision Center for a follow up appointment to make sure my contact lenses were fitting properly on my eyes. Then I took a quick trip to Whole Foods to pick up some yummy organic food. Immediately following that, I hoofed it back to mi casa to meet up with Jody so we could journey into Chicago via the blue line together. Jody's artwork had been selected by Synovate to be displayed in their building on Adams and Riverside Plaza. We hung out and toured the artwork for about an hour, then busted back on the train. While on the train, we played a game of "trainspotter" which is where you pick an activity that people are doing while driving and then yell it out every time you see it happen. For example, every time we saw someone talking on their cell phone we would yell "cell phone." Gotta find someway to pass the time. We saw a "Fred Durst" look-a-like in a BMW on 90 and that's when the game got a little more fun. Jody started to wave at him while I just looked at him. We definitely made eye contact and then all of a sudden we lost him as the train sped past. Then as we finally approached Cumberland, we found him again and this time we got a HUGE smile from him. I wonder if he was the real Fred Durst. Back in the car and in rush hour traffic, I quickly drop Jody off at home, change and then head to HBC to meet up with Luis Peralta to discuss the plans for the ESL ministry. I agreed to continue to do ESL out in Elgin at Harvest House because I love the working with the people out there! So it was great news to know they still wanted me to help out:) As soon as our meeting was over, it was time to head out to the Racetrack for ESL. We had a great night of food and fellowship with Luke from the food ministry providing us with a meal. Then as the night ended, Lynda, one of our tutors, gave an amazing testimony about how God has really brought her through some majorly difficult times. It was a blessing and encouragement to us all. As the night ended, I headed back home to reunite with Jody and watch an episode of a ghost hunter show. That pretty much puts a cap on that day, thank goodness! I don't think you could cram anything else into it:) I'm just making the most of my singleness while I've still got it!

Sister, Sister

2007-07-25T20:29:00.001-07:00

I received an e-mail from Tina Osbourn yesterday stating she needed some singers to volunteer for the "Sister Summit" better known as "What Not to Wear" this Wednesday which was today. So I giddy yapped my way up to Harvest Bible Chapel for a time of sisterhood filled with a skit, worship, message, and everyone's favorite, lots of sugary food! First, Ellen McInerney and someone else acted out an episode from "What Not to Wear" which was absolutely delightful. Ellen plays a great "Stacey." Following that, me and the gals headed up to the mics in the worship center and lead a time of worship under the direction of the very talented Tina Osbourn. Finally we heard a message from Lina Abujamra about putting off fear and putting on freedom. She is a physician who works in the emergency room and has just recently graduated from Northwestern with a Masters in Business. Why isn't this girl married? Anyways, the scripture she focused on was Matthew 14:22-33 the story of Jesus walking on water. It is amazing that even after 2 years of a ministry filled with miracles and seeing Jesus do all kinds of amazing things and yet the disciples are sitting in a boat, fearful of facing this storm of a lifetime. God allows the fearful circumstances in your life because it serves to test your faith. 1Peter 4:12 says "do not be surprised when faced with trials." In Hebrews it says that our salvation was made perfect through Christ's suffering. God allows fearful circumstances as it reveals our heart, Luke 6:45. God is aware of the fearful circumstances we are in. He knew his disciples were freaking out as he went up to the mountain to pray. He knows about it. Then He delays on purpose to give us an opportunity to show our faith. There is no doubt though, that He will deliver you but He wants you to recognize Him during those fearful circumstances. Just like Peter did as he was walking to Jesus and started to sink. "Save me" he said to Jesus and sure enough Jesus reached out his hand. Our God is a jealous God. He wants us to know that we need Him beyond anything else first and foremost. God wants to abolish our fear. We sometimes think that our freedom will come when the bad situation finally goes away. God wants us to experience that freedom now! During the storm. The way to freedom is through faith. So we need to ask for freedom and be willing to be obedient to God and take the first step. We need to keep our focus on Jesus by spending time with Him and other Christians. Develop the habit of looking at Jesus and going to the Lord first and not a human source. We must be willing to ask again and again. There are obstacles to the freedom God is ready to give us. We are distracted by other people, by the circumstance itself, and by even our ownselves. Finally, God's Will is accomplished when you are free Galatians 5:1! He wants to grow your faith. He wants you to get to know Him. He wants to be glorified! What are some practical ways we can apply this message? If you are fearful of your finances, give more. If you are fearful of a relationship and are having difficulties, love more. If you are fearful of health circumstances, live more. If you are fearful of what other people will think, reach out more. The evening ended with another time of worship and then out to the foyer for food and fellowship. Thank you God for never letting go of us, through calm and through storm you are always there. Whom then shall we fear?

Goodbye Yong Tak

2007-07-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday immediately following the water skiing experience and before small group, I ventured over to Michelle Thomas's condo to bid a farewell to a dear friend, Yong Tak. Yong will be moving to Arizona at the end of the week where his girlfriend and daughter reside. I helped out by the pool with a game of "find the keys at the bottom of the pool." I threw the keys into the pool while Yong, Chip, Michelle, and Carlos went to find them. We went back to the condo for food and hangout time which ended at 6:45pm as I had small group to attend and Yong, Michelle, Chris, and Carlos were off to the Schaumburg Improv theater. I will miss Young as he always knew the right things to say to cheer up this lady. Buena Suerte mi amigo!

Hello Lake Como

2007-07-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

It's 4:45am on Sunday morning...what am I doing? Not sleeping! I'm up getting ready to go out on a speed boat with my friends and attempt water skiing for the first time!!! I wake up Julie, using the chipper sound of my voice, who is sleeping on the couch in my living room. Out of the house by 5:30am, we drive out to Palatine to meet up with Steve and Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) and then head out to Crystal Lake to pick up Jason. As we approach Jason's house, we decide to give him a call to let him know we were in his driveway. To his surprise, he wasn't expecting us to be so punctual. I don't think anyone on the trip expected me to be so "caffeinated" without the intake of caffeine. As we travelled, Steve managed to blow off one stop sign. He politely acknowledged its presence only slowing down slightly and then accelerating to epic proportions once he couldn't hear another vehicle within earshot. We traveled past a farm that had scary cut-outs with artistic renders of various vegetables. As we rolled into Lake Geneva, we stopped at a Starbucks to pick up some coffee. When I went to order my grande iced white mocha, the cashier asked if I wanted an extra shot of espresso. I told her that the people I was driving with would hang me if I had any more boosts of anything, especially espresso! From Lake Geneva we traveled just a little bit more before we reached our destination of “La Casa De Verano De Holvay” which is in Lake Como, WI. We unloaded our gear from the SUV and brought in onto the SS Holvay, which was parked ever so valiantly next to the pier. I didn’t know what to expect other than to have a lot of fun with a bunch of great people the Lord has blessed me with:) We were out on the water from about 8am-10am cruising around at about 20-30mph. No one was out on the lake! Que perfecto! Both Steve and Jason had no problems getting out on the wakeboard. Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) made some pretty daring attempts but didn't make it out of the water completely. We decided to head back to shore a little bit after 10am as we needed to refuel the boat and refuel our stomachs. I had to pee and everyone told me that was what the lake was for. I still managed to use the bathroom facilities several times before returning to the boat. Steve, Mark, Julie and I headed into town to get lunch and gas leaving Jason behind to watch the house. Mark tried to go into Subway with no shirt on and they totally kicked him out. We returned back to the casa, ate, and hopped back into the SS Holvay at about 11:30am. Then Julie attempted to both wakeboard and ski. Good attempts, no success. Then it was my turn. First off, I tried to suffocate myself by making the ladies large life jacket as skin tight as possible. I did not want to fall out of that thing! Then I tried to gracefully exit the boat. Wasn't prepared for that. I think I forgot to hold my breath and swallowed about a 1/2 gallon of water once I got in the lake. For there it took me about 10 minutes to get my skiis on. Finally, I floated out to the end of the rope and very casually cued Jason and company to "hit it." And we're off, and the rope is yanked out of my hands, arms are still attached to the body and skiis are seen floating next to me, not on my feet anymore. A second attempt was made and this time, no skiis came off, but I still never made it out of the water. After the 3rd time and the skiis coming off again, I called it a day and decided I need to fast and pray before I attempt to ski again:) Since skiing was not a natural talent of mine, I tried to entertain the ship with by serenading them with several renditions of classic rock tunes like Bohemiam Rhapsody, Come Sail Away, Sweet Child O' Mine...etc. Mark again attempted the skiis and wakeboard and this time came so close to being up on the water for about 3 seconds. He also took a nice face plant and was drag in the water for about 3 seconds probably swallowing about 3 gallons of water. Both Jason and Steve got another turn and showed off their professional skills jumping wakes and holding onto the cord with one hand putting all of us spectators to shame. I'm jealous and hope that someday I can be as cool as them:) We headed back to shore around 2pm, cleaned up boat and house, took some pics, fed some ducks, and headed back towards home. On the way home, I pretended to be a DJ and played some Indian, Polish, and Latino music off of the iPod. I think we've got some new fans of world music! We dropped off Jason first who I'm sure was ready to collaspe and take a nice nap. Steve and Julie headed off to a softball game and Mark headed home. My day had only just begun as I was off to a surprise going away party for my good friend Young Tak. More about that in the next blog. So here's to Lake Como, Jason and his hospitality, Mark(aka Steve aka Mike) and his massive video camera and sunblock, Steve and his stellar wakeboard, and to Julie and her multiple attempts. I am determined that next time I will succeed!

An Explosive Saturday

2007-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

I did a lot on Saturday. I even woke up early...which for a Saturday is anytime before 10am. When I woke up, I began furiously writing blogs as I was behind by a couple of days. After that, I ventured out to Lake Arlington for a very lame 2mile run that I almost pooped out on. Gotta build up the endurance again and shave off some time to my mile splits so when I run the "Bucktown" in September, I can get a PR(personal record). Before I went to the lake, I went to Ritz camera on Rand and Arlington Heights Rd because I needed them to develop one of my photos to give to a friend for their b-day and also for a sale that I just made with a REALTOR. It's kinda a tradition of mine now to give a photo I personally took to friends on special occasions. The Burkett's, Revoredo's, Eric, Jene't, Jonathon Bueno, Dot, etc...all have a Ramona Ruskuls original. I've got another friend who I owe a picture to who just had a major b-day about a month ago. Now I'm going to add to this list, not by choice, but because Ritz doesn't understand how to print out an enlargement properly. If you want the details of this horrific event, please ask as to disclose them in this article would take up a lot of space. Ritz screwed up before, but I believe in 2nd chances. Now they took advantage of that and ruined the integrity of one of my favorite pictures because they couldn't understand and follow through on simple instructions and develop a photo properly. Needless to say, I am planning on dealing with them on Monday or Tuesday and will have an update as soon as I follow through. The rest of the evening went well as I attended church services again on Saturday night. Dr. Stowell focused on Psalm 73, where David cries out...why do good things happen to bad people? After that, I chatted with Joel and Mark about work and college. Then I had Joel carpool me to the Harris Bank lot where I met up with Julie, Steve, and Jason. We jumped into Steve's Blazer and headed down to Harry Caray's in Chicago to celebrate Jason's 27th b-day. Liam and Christina Burkett were there and gave Jason a lovely glow necklace. Perfect attire suitable for all the rave dancing he has been doing lately;) We enjoyed a very tasty meal of big prices but of big portions too so we had enough to take home and eat for another meal. I'd like to go back and take a tour of the place next time and really look at all the articles and memorabilia that was on the wall. Jody joined us for a little bit as well but had to leave as she wasn't feeling so good. I wish she could have been well enough to give us her Harry Caray impersonation which is priceless! On the way home trying to get onto the expressway we ran past the "singles" block party and forgot to drop Jason off. I don't know why we didn't just park the car. All of us could have attended and gotten married to someone at the party all in one night! As we continued on our way home, I tried to teach Jason some techno dance moves with the glowstick and Steve let us listen to various radio programming as he drove. Julie followed me home and spent the night at my casa to prepare for the early 5:30am wake up call to go out on a water skiing adventure the next day. Despite Ritz camera, the day turned out quite well wouldn't you say?

Krystal Waters in Chicago

2007-07-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last night was such a GORGEOUS evening! The weather was perfect for a night in Chicago. I traveled into the city because my friend Krystal drove in from Grand Haven, MI to visit some Chicago friends for a day. I met Krystal through Kim Klotz-Webster. Kim was a camp counselor at Lutheran Summer Music camps and Krystal was one of her campers. Kim eventually recruited Krystal to go to Valpo and pursure her Bachelors in Music- specifically, Vocal Performance. She is a girl after my own heart as she is not a chirpy sorprano voice but a nice, rich, mezzo maybe even really a contralto. This girl is good when it comes to singing and it really stunk that her senior recital was on the worst day of weather in my entire lifetime! Now I just need to wait until she is singing on stage with the Lyric Opera. It was awesome to see Krystal and walk around downtown. We stopped by the Summerdance festival and listened to some live swing music and watched some great dancers cut the concrete in grant park. I took some pictures which turned out okay, but would have been a lot better if i had a digital SLR with mega zoom on it and at least 10 mega pixels:) From there, we hiked it up to the Grand Lux Cafe which Krystal had surprisingly never been to before. We had great conversations about our future career direction, relationships with boys/girls, Chorale, etc. Then Michael Beaver arrived to the scene to join us. He is a friend of Krystal's who also went to Valpo. The conversation got really good then as I heard stories of how the Phi Delts are now kicked off campus and the Phi Mu Alpha's were under probation. I miss college:) Krystal had to leave unfortunately and return back to Grand Haven where many Harry Potter parties were raging strong as the new JK Rowling book was released last night. I returned to the "el" but made a few stops along the way to take some night time snap shots of the theater district. I got on the blue line at Randolph at the Daley center and then had to get off at Clark and Lake which was the next stop. Because of construction, part of the service is down so all those who needed to go in the direction of O'Hare had to take a shuttle bus from Clark and Lake to get back on the blue line at Western and Milwaukee. So my typical 30 minute train ride turned into a 5 min ride to a 7 min walk and wait to a 10 min bus ride to a 40 min train ride to a 15 min car ride. Needless to say, i returned home at about 1:30am. Despite the commute home, the night was fantastic and I am so blessed to have Krystal as a friend:)

A Chilly Night on the Racetrack

2007-07-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

It was cold on the racetrack tonight! But it didn't keep all of our students from staying home. I got the opportunity to substitute teach for a level 1 Beginners class as both tutor had previous commitments. It was great working with Rodrigo, Oscar, Ilda, and Guadalupe. They are willing to take risks and learn lots. The most memorable part of the evening was the comment that Natalie and Shawn made as i was getting their parking pass from them. "I Love this!" She exclaimed! They didn't want to leave the track. God has definitely blessed me with an amazing group of tutors who don't complain, who are obedient, and whose love and joy for the Lord is always expressed in their actions and shining upon their faces.

A Trip to Wisconsin

2007-07-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon, I treked it up to Gurnee, IL to visit my best friend Marisol Garcia along with her sister Sophie. I've know this boricua since the second grade! So I hopped onto 294 and all its glory and booked it up North through a mild coverage of rush hour traffic. Apon my arrival, we exchanged quick greetings and then began our journey to Oak Creek, WI. Not a bad drive as we took Waukegan Ave. aka Hwy 41 to meet up with 294 to avoid the tolls. It took us about 30 mins to meet our destination which was the Oak Creek Assembly of God...the church that the Garcia's attend. The reason for my visit this evening other than to spend quality time with Mari and Sophie, was to help Mari figure out whether or not she should be a part of the "singles impact" ministry or the "crossroads" ministry. We decided to check out Singles Impact because if its the equivalent to HBC's version of SAM, she will need to have a friend there for back-up. Sophie headed into Crossroads which is geared towards those 18-25 years old. I knew Mari would rather go to Crossroads after the worship team started to play. Or maybe that was me:) They weren't horrible and we certainly were able to worship God. Their interpretations of some of the modern worship tunes was very interesting. Like the "bosa nova" version of "How Great is Our God." It was a challenge to accept it and not be jealous of the Hillsongs-like praise going on at the Crossroads ministry. Pastor Laurie of the Singles Impact ministry gave a message about making excuses which really tugged at a lot of our hearts. She used the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, when God tells Moses that he will bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses is like, wait up God, who am I that I should do such a thing. How many times has God asked us to do something we don't think we can do? Our tendency is to be like Moses and just come up with excuses, reasons why we aren't qualified or why we shouldn't do something He asks of us. As the story continues in Exodus, Moses continues to question God about approaching the Israelites, what if they don't believe me...I can't speak in front of people...I'm no eloquent speaker...How many times have I said that to God in the last year? LOTS! But somehow, I managed to realize its better when God asks us to do things we "think" we can't do. This allows God to truly show us how BIG He is. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. As our evening ended, i think Mari made the decision to check out Crossroads next week as she would like to develope friendships with Christians in her age group so she can have some hang out buddies as well as accountability partners and such. Since the weather wasn't so great, I spent the night and when I woke up the next morning, I had a great conversation with Mari's mom, Lillian. She loves being a bilingual teacher! She was telling me this heartfelt story about a student, Humberto, who she recently had in her class this past year. He suffers from seizures. He just came to America and had never been in a school before. She had to start from ground zero with him and teach him just about behaving properly in school really before academics came in. It was a touching story to hear how God used her to minister to this child. The other teachers knew there was something different about the way she teaches. Praise God for her and for her love of the Lord which she shared with little Umberto.

Jesus Rocks on the Racetrack

2007-07-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

God did some amazing things tonight on the Racetrack! Numero uno...He kept the skies clear so we could meet with our groups outside. Numero dos...ONE OF THE STUDENTS ACCEPTED CHRIST!!!! How coolio is that? At about 8:30pm we all gathered into the racetrack auditorium and Terri, one of my tutors, shared her testimony as Ernesto, the racetrack chaplain, translated for her. At the end, he asked if anyone had any questions or if anyone wanted to accept Christ. One of our students, Luis, spoke up and said he would like to pray to receive Christ. And so, Terri prayed with Luis while Ernesto translated. It was very awesome to see God use Terri as she was feeling a little inadequate in her abilities to give a powerful testimony. This just shows you how God will use you as a messenger when you least expect it. You need to have a weak moment so that the true strength of God can be seen! Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the Glory!

A very late night ride

2007-07-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Directly following Thornhill Fest Day 7, Jody, Julie, and I threw 3 bikes on the back of Julie's car and rushed off to Chicago for the annual L.A.T.E. ride. The LATE ride is a 25 mile bike trip that starts off by Buckingham Fountain and travels west to Foster Ave before making it's way back north long the lakeshore bike path. Yes 25 miles of fun! And at 2am! Woo hoo:) In order to prepare myself for this trip, I made sure to jook up on as much caffeine as humanly possible. So by the time we got downtown, I was wired but it seemed to wear off quickly. Seeking free parking, we parked the car and unloaded the bikes on Lake street over near May St in the West loop. Jody guided us to our meeting spot where we were to join Alex Neukom and Todd Ackland. I almost got killed on the way as there was a car that missed hitting me by a foot. Safely reaching our rondevous point, we gathered the rest of the "registered" crew and headed to our start point to wait some more. Me and the 2 "J's" saved some cash by not registering for the ride. It wasn't a race so we really didn't feel the need to pay $40 for the t-shirt we weren't going to wear and the breakfast we didn't want to eat. We started biking at about 2am heading up roosevelt up to Elston Ave in Greek Town. As I tried to change gears on one of the hills, my chain came off so I had to pull over. Luckily, Todd and Julie called me on the cell and I was able to reunite with my fellow bikers. There were about 10,000 people biking so the streets were swarming with huffy's, treks, and schwinn's. At the 7 mile marker, we stopped at a 24 hour CVS to buy some caffeine and jook up some more. At about mile 10, Todd asked me to lead the group in a sing-a-long of "Bohemium Rhapsody." Others ended up joining us in our sing-a-long and strangely enough as we started to sing..."mama just killed a man, put a gun against his head...." we heard gun fire in the distant or at least what sounded like gunfire. At the 12 mile mark, we stop at the rest stop which looked like another Mecca for bikes. There were thousands and thousands of bikes. Lots were decorated with christmas lights, glow sticks, banners, pinwheels etc....The last leg of the trip was the best because there was at least a 1-2 mile gap of open space to ride at a more appropriate speed. The challenge of the ride was trying to ride your bike amongst 10,000 bikes on the narrow city streets. We all had to share the right lane together. On top of that, you had young kids weaving in and out and slow slow SLOW bikers all around you. It was AMAZING at 4:30am when the sun started to peak up over lake michigan. If I wasn't so tired, I would have stopped my bike to get a better look. I'm saving those "sunrise" moments to share with someone special:) While I reached the museum campus, a guy looked over at me and said "you aren't singing anymore...i really enjoyed the singing." I'm glad that me and my biking crew were able to meet the needs of one of our fellow bikers and provide some entertainment along the way. We finally finished 3 hours later at 5am. At this point, me and the 2 "J's"hobbled back on our bikes and slowly rode off into the sunrise. Despite the back and butt pain I'm feeling right now I would so want to do something like this again!

Thornhill' Fest Day 7

2007-07-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Twas' the seventh day of Thornhill Fest and all through the yard...
All the Yammers were chatting about the hair clippers on guard...
The "regulars" returned, one more round of croquet was played...
Our stomachs were happy as another Eric Wang trifle was made...
On the seventh day of Thornhill Fest a great sight did we see...
Mr. Patrick with a mowhawk, a handsome look we all agree...
So ends a stellar time, another chapter of Thornhill Fest...
The 2007 edition will go down in history, me thinks it's the best!
Detox from BBQ, back to work, back to reality, back to the routine we all fear...
Don't you fret, the Fest will return bigger,better,louder, can't wait til next year!

Thornhill' Fest Day 6

2007-07-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

It's the second to last day of Thornhill' Fest and all the gang is here. The "regulars" arrived early to the scene and continued to show their dedication and support of their stellar friends the Thronhills. My brother finally made it out of bed after a long day's work at Sam's club to share in the festivities and bring a little more "hip hop" to the atmosphere. Speaking of "hip hop," how did we deliver the "Umbrella" song this eve to Julie? With cell phone placed ever so out-in-the open on the table, a call was phoned in and the ringer was heard...under my umbrella ella eh eh eh. Rich Chang purchased a new phone and was very excited to show Julie one of it's functions. He uploaded a live video of the "umbrella" performance for Julie to watch. Thanks Richard T Chang for keeping the tradition going! My brother challenged our brains with his cell phone's equivalent to "Who wants to be a Millionaire" with music industry specific questions. Because the hot dogs, brats, and burgers were getting out of control, some of us opted for a more healthier alternative of a chicken burrito and fruit side dish combo. Sandy Song graced a presence on break from her missions trip in China. Some of us thought she was the special musical guest but we were wrong. At about 7:30pm all the noise drew silent as the sound of bagpipes coming from the east billowed through the barrington manor on prairie street. "in Christ Alone" was played for Stephanie who was not able to enjoy and hear the bagpipe music on her wedding day. The bagpiper played only about 4 or 5 tunes which was good because he was still standing at the end of his set. No need for anyone to shout..."a piper is down....repeat...a piper is down" at this gathering. The socializing picked again but was hushed as soon as 7 hispanic muchachos marched into place and aligned themselves behind the little water fountain in the thornhill garden. Adorned with traditional mariachi garb, they played to the crowds delight, or Lori's request..."mariachi loco." Thanks to Lori, we were able to throw them a few traditional mariachi titles for them to play. I only know salsa, merengue, bachata music so I was no help in this category. My brother wanted them to play "suavemente" and Lori reminded him they weren't Puerto Rican. Tom was demanding "oye como va" and somehow they managed to insert a snippet of it into "guantanamera." Stephanie made a few new friends when she requested "besame mucho." This band ROCKED!!!!! By far my favorite of all musical acts at the fest all week and you know I'm saying that because I'm an "honorary latina." The performance of Los Palmeros will forever live on and go down in fest history as one of the greatest porch performances of all time. We were shouting "otra" (spanish equivalent to encore)at the end and did they deliver with a reprise of "mariachi loco." Stephanie Minervino and I took a picture with the band at the end before they rhode off into the dark starlit sky. Thanks to Christina once again for putting in the hours to secure this band. You are hardcore! She needs a t-shirt that says "i booked the band at thornhill fest 2007." Pool time was had, bonfire blazing strong, and the movie by the pool "Better off dead" just couldn't stay on. The Wangster returned with dessert, a nice apple triffle to pass. The 1am warning call was made so I decided to call it a day knowing that Saturday was going to be a very VERY busy day and I needed some beauty sleep. I don't think Julie left anything tonight but her Notorious personality's imprint on the minds of the thornhill fest attendees.

Thornhill' Fest Day 5

2007-07-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

Unlike previous days, I arrived at the Thornhill manor a little on the late side due to my coordinating commitments for the ESL ministry at the AH Racetrack. As I was looking for a place to park, I spotted a familiar face going to a Honda Civic hatchback. At this point, I was escorted by Jamil Webster from my car to the entrance of the fest. That's where I ran into Kim Webster and her and Jamil's friend Eric. After about 20 minutes talking to Kim, Julie screams out from the distance something to the tune of "I hate you" or "you're going down, Ro." I guess Jene't called her and as she picked up the phone, the song "Umbrella" was playing. not sure who could have put Jene't up to that prank. I certainly won't take credit for that in genius plot. Patty Sebastian was seen holding the Maltese poodle mix and it seemed as if she had fed the dog its dose of Ritalin. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear Josh play at all but I hear he did a variety of cover songs to please this evening's audience. Apparently, Eric's dessert had quite an impact on Josh as well and has inspired him to write a song about the trifle someday. I'm sure the intoxicated neighbors made another appearance spreading compliments throughout the crowd. After about 20 more minutes of chatting in the same spot right at the entrance of the fest pivoting back and forth, a declaration about the status of pool time was announced and Stephanie Minervino, Julie, and I got ready for some swimming in the bath-tub like Thornhill pool. I think tomorrow or Saturday I will bring rubber duckies to simulate and authenticate that kind of welcoming atmosphere to the pool. The pool was finally de-femaled after Jason and Patrick showed up. Jenny, Jason, and Ja-Mona (me)(my name doesn't start with a "J" and I was on a team with all "J"s but me:() wailed their watervolleyball skillz on the likes of Patrick, Julie, and Stephanie. Eventhough Stephanie claims no athletic gifts, we still think she is hot. Side discussion was had about the possibility of Patrick plucking his chest hair to raise money for the Romania missions trip. Rich Chang began to take some water pics as we played. As soon as Andrew and Jonathon made it to the pool, we began running around counter clockwise to build enough momentum to simulate a Whirlpool. After about 7 laps or so and Patrick lapping us all, we stopped and let the water take us away. Getting out of the pool wasn't as bad as it had been on Tuesday night. It was definitely a lot warmer outside tonight. The regulars returned and have perfect Thornhill fest attendance. I think we need to get a group picture tomorrow with the Mariachi band. A HUGE thank you to Christina for following through and making the calls today to secure the 8 piece Mariachi's for Friday the 13th. Tom Akert continued to talk about concepts until blue in the face and then finally decided to give us an interesting banana demonstration. Very interesting. He snapped the naner in 1/2 then each half was conveniently split into threes. A consensus was made that Friday should be a completely organic food day in order for us to fast from the brats, burgers, and dogs we've been consuming all week. So Whole Food's run anyone? Thank God Eric Wang finally brought the Janu cheese my grandma made that I left at his house the other day. Andrew sampled it and said it kinda tasted like mozerella ella ella eh eh eh tasted like mozerella ella ella eh eh eh. Jason gave it a thumbs up and Tom was reminded of its great flavor once again. We wrapped up things at about 12:45 leaving behind another great night in Thornhill fest history. I think the brothers Thornhill are up right now watching a movie. Andrew tried to tempt us to come and watch a movie. He even threw China Town at us. Not this time, but certainly next time! By the way, someone left behind a jacket. No worries it was not Julie and it's not a "members only" jacket.

Thornhill' Fest Day 4

2007-07-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

When I arrived at Thornhill Fest, the deck and yard were already set up for the Spares to play. I was able to kidnapp 1/2 of the Revoredo's who weren't suppose to make an appearance at the fest until Thursday evening. While Katie and I were driving to Barrington, what song just happened to be playing on the radio? None other than the official theme song of the fest, that hit song by the dynamic collaboration of Rhianna and Jay Z..."umbrella!" In traditional ritualistic fashion I thought instanteously of calling Julie Notariano. But since I did that already twice this week, I had Mrs. Rev make the phone call to let her know what song was playing on the radio. She was annoyed as usual and probably will have that song stuck in her head for another couple of hours. Becky, Julie, and I did not get a chance to play crochet to our dismay. Instead, everyone migrated to the lawn to listen to an amazingly good christian blue grass/folk/rock////mixture of summer selections from "the spares." Half the time I think most of the crowd was distracted by the cute, hyperactive, maltese poodle mix that was seen dashing across the yard. I saw Andrew's mom get attacked by it a few times. Harmless and cute the only dog that I would suggest take ridalyn for its obvious diagnosis of A.D.D. No pool time was had tonight as the weather dropped a ton and spectators were sharing blankets. There was a CostCo cake in honor of a birthday. Andrew serenading the crowd with background vocals by the spares. An intoxicated neighbor of the Thornhill's came up to me and boldly proclaimed my beauty. Very flattering moment even if they were one step from passing out. At evenings end many interesting conversations were had and topics discussed including, but certainly not limited to...the LATE ride, pink eye, inner city ministry, mariachi bands, family drama, Garman's competing party, cameras, hidden website counters, etc....what a great night to sit around and shoot the breeze. The evening ended with a call from Eric checking in on us. Attendance was great with a lot of newcomers including the likes of the McCarthy's, Cori, Lori, Todd, and Rich. The "regulars" or "die hard fans of thornhillfest2007" were also present and suffering from bbqfoodatosis which is basically a direct result of eating bbq food for several days consecutively. Methods of cleansing including the lemonade detox diet were presented to the group as a possible solution to the bbqfoodatosis. Julie did not leave anything behind to our knowledge. So what am I thinking about now that's its 1:50 am and I'm finishing this blog...must find mariachi band.....must find band....and more importantly, can they do a cover of "umbrella?"

Thornhill' Fest Day 3

2007-07-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Because of the rain, all ministries were cancelled at the Arlington Heights Racetrack. This allowed a window of opportunity for me to return once again to Barrington for Day 3 of Thornhill Fest 2007. The weather as usual, did not keep the crowd away. It only put a slight delay in the arrivals. Again, "the regulars" returned although missing one or two from the original crew. Julie, Patrick, Tom, the brothers Thornhill and I are 3 days strong and counting. Stephanie's family dropped by and we made some new friends. I think they went to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight. Once again on my way to the fest as I get to the intersection of 14 and Ela, what is on the radio....Umbrella ella ella eh eh eh! Andrew got the grill hoppin'once again and tonight's crowd favs were the hot dogs and brats. The broccoli disapeared quickly as well. Becky and Nick along with their Pops and Nathan came. We all played the first inagural 2007 Thornhill fest game of crochet while the sun was setting. Julie made a comeback in the end to beat us all! The last to arrive on the scene were Sarah Baily, Rue, and Eric Wang. Rue jumped in the pool with clohes on so I must give her a special bit of props. The addition of the white Christmas lights aligning the pool parimeter gave such a warm, intimate, inviting ambience to our surroundings. We all swam the night away while watching the 80's classic "Ghostbusters." Today's episode was a little calmer, but still was a special night. And to my knowledge, Julie did not leave anything behind...One last question to pose...will the Revoredo's ever make an appearance?

Thornhill' Fest Day 2

2007-07-10T13:14:00.001-07:00

Despite the threatening weather outside, Day 2 of Thornhill fest proved to be just as entertaining if not more so than Day One. I received a call early in the evening from my flock leader, Wendy in regards to some business which needed to be discussed. I had Andrew interrogating me all evening about what the “situation” was all about. The “regulars” returned which included Julie, Heather Kidd, Patrick, Tom, Karen, and I along with the dynamic Thornhill duo of Andrew and Jonathon. Newcomers were the Swanson’s with baby Sofia, Jason Holvay, and Eric Wang. Jason brought some stellar guacamole that he mixed up all on his own through the aid of a special recipe. Heather Kidd brought a yummy set of home grown tomatoes fresh from her garden. Unfortunately, Eric did not bring my Grandmother’s special Pierogi’s or Janu Cheese. On top of that, he got lost on his way to the fest. Tom and I suspected something was wrong with Eric and we began interrogating him and at evening’s end, sent him through the poking machine. Many concepts were discussed including a potato chip crust pie. I think a concept party is in the works where every dish that comes into the house is an original concept. We executed the banana smore concept on the grill. Jason and I juked one banana up with marshmallows, graham crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate. Boys swam in the pool and supposively were “nude” for at least one second…or as rumor has it. This time, Julie left her red Italian leather purse behind. What will she leave on Tuesday night?

Thornhill' Fest Day 1

2007-07-10T13:12:00.001-07:00

Today was blazin’ hot! I actually made it out to the UF field and played for about an hour despite the weather induced asthmatic like symptoms I was experiencing after each sprint. Had a lot of fun trying to block Kim and Becky from getting the Frisbee while trying to not collapse or pass out. No one seemed to understand that we could only do short passes because of the wind that day. Oh well…we were diving for discs left and right as no one could accurately judge the location they were to land.

Directly following UF, I got into my swimsuit and headed out to Barrington for Day One of Thornhill fest 2007! Lots of great people were already there once I arrived. Heather Ahn was desperately trying to stay away from the pool and Patrick almost dropped her in at one point. Andrew was a grilling machine cooking up these AMAZINGLY good hamburgers. We had an interesting game of water-volleyball. I think I spent most of the time snorting through the game because it seemed like half the time our valiant attempts at graciously hitting the ball would fail. Eventually Stephanie Minervino arrived which added a bit of glam to our surroundings. Nancy Kuo was able to logically guess the flavor of the mystery bag of Dorritos. The evening ended with a time honored tradition of watching a movie in the pool. Great concept! As I watched “Wayne’s World” I was able to hold onto a floaty noodle and swim. So, all the calories that were consumed by gorging on burgers and chips were combated by a little aquatic exercise. Julie managed to leave behind bobby pins and hair clips….will she leave behind anything on Day 2?

Preparacion para El Futuro

2007-07-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

It's crazy how God is at work all the time. When you least expect it, God is making plans for you to run into and embrace. About a month ago I was sitting at work when a phone call came through on my cell from an unknown number. I picked it up only to listen to the voice mail which had been left. It was Berta, Cindy Torres and Celia Arrieta's sister. The reason she called was to invite me to help lead worship for the hispanic women's ministry conference in October. This was a complete shock to me! I guess Cindy had a little something to do with it because Berta and her were talking about who should be recruited for this venture. So on October 20th, I will be joining forces with the likes of Glenda Peralta and Stacy Pequeno to usher in the spirit at this first ever event for Harvest.
Last night, we had a meeting of the mastermind's at the Medina's house in Des Plaines. It was so great to meet all the women planning the retreat. What was even better was the fact that they spoke spanish the ENTIRE time! They didn't try to water it down for me:) That was so important because it gave me an opportunity to be challenged and to really try to listen and understand what they were saying. That's how we teach our ESL students. We teach them to listen first, then speak. God was definitely amoung us as I was able to understand probably about 85% of what they were saying...and maybe not ver baetum, but I definitely knew the content and some of the details that were being discussed.
I'm so excited about this opportunity. It's a chance for God to grow skills in me that I have been praying about. It's a chance to see God use me for His purposes. It's a chance to see another piece of the puzzle get locked into place. To Him alone be the glory!

God on the Backstretch

2007-07-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

At the Arlington Heights Racetrack, there is a little world that exists. In it contains many hungry hearts who do not know Jesus. My church has been serving the migrant workers of the racetrack for the last 5 years through children's programming and adult ESL classes. This past Tuesday we had a beautiful night of fellowship with the lovely folks in the HBC food ministry providing the food. As a result, we had some very cute unexpected visitors. God has been using the volunteers to reach out to both the kids and the adults. Here is a picture of some of my new friends:)

Think Quick Part Duex

2007-06-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

God is good! He provided a wonderful and most timely solution to my little dilemma yesterday. All I did was group the 2 Intermediate groups together. The volunteers were so willing to help and the students looked like they had a ton of fun with their substitutes! I enjoyed spending time reading Bearenstien Bears books to a little 4 year old boy named Bryan. What a great night!

Think Quick

2007-06-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

By some crazy act of God, I was lead to the ESL ministry at my church and have been serving there for about one year now. I’m even coordinating the entire summer program at the Arlington Heights Racetrack.

The tutors who serve in the ministry have been nothing but amazing! But today invokes a new challenge…a new test…a new trial.

My tutors are paired so that if one is sick or has some kind of conflict, there is someone else there to back them up. I just got e-mails from 2 tutors of the same group.

This moment requires me to “think quick.” So what do I do first? I start thinking of who I can call to be a substitute. Then I pray. Now I wait for God to come through with an answer…a solution. God’s got my back. It’s His ministry so He won’t let us fail. God’s going to come through!

Bienvenidos a mi Blog!

2007-06-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I like to blog. I’m not as consistent as some but I try to write something a few times a month.

I was blogging on myspace and then a little on xanga…It seems like I blog everywhere these days except on toilet paper. So I decided to narrow it down and come up with a primary blog at blogspot. Why blogspot you ask? It’s purely superficial. I like their design better:)

"Por el dia" which in Spanish means "for the day." Or at least that's the message I'm trying to convey. This blog will contain my thoughts, feelings, advice, gripes, fails, successes...etc. "for the day."